A history of the frozen meat trade, an account of the development and present day methods of preparation, transportation, and marketing of frozen and chilled meats;

A HISTORY OF
THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

t
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3 s

V) _O

W :'

EC .y\

A HISTORY OF THE

FROZEN MEAT TRADE

AN ACCOUNT OF THE DEVELOPMENT AND

PRESENT DAY METHODS OF PREPARATION,

TRANSPORT, AND MARKETING OF FROZEN AND

CHILLED MEATS

BV

JAMES TROUBRIDGE CRITCHELL

AND

JOSEPH RAYMOND

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND DIAGRAMS

SECOND EDITION

LONDON
CONSTABLE & COMPANY LTD

10 ORANGE STREET LEICESTER SQUARE \VC

1912

PKEFACE

MUCH that is extremely interesting, and a little that is
romantic, is to be found in the history of the industry to
which this book is devoted, and the authors hope that the
records which appear in these pages of the rise and progress
of the frozen and chilled meat trades will justify the publica-
tion of this volume. Many works have appeared describing
the beginnings and developments of the great wool industry,
but nothing of an historical and exhaustive nature has ever
been published in book form (although pamphlets and news-
paper articles without number have been issued) about the
frozen meat business. To provide food is, at least, as impor-
tant as to supply clothing, and the one industry lends itself
to description as readily as the other.

The personnel of the pioneers who worked out the practical
and technical problems of the preparation and transport of
frozen meat — successfully sometimes, frequently otherwise —
included men of a high order of intellect and character. To
read Mr. Mort's speech, delivered on September 2, 1875, at the
Lithgow Valley Works (see p. 20), is to be thrilled with some
sense of the exaltation of spirit which must have inspired his
hearers in contemplating the world-wide benefit to follow upon
the exportation of Australia's surplus of meat, the hoped-for era
so eloquently forecasted by Mort. The engineers engaged
upon the freezing formulae, the shipowners endeavouring to
alter their system to grapple with the new position created by
the Strathleven shipment, the merchants and bankers in London
applying themselves to the most important part of the whole
trade — marketing the meat — deserve recognition in the printed
page before the lapse of time destroys all records. It has been
difficult enough, after thirty years from the starting point, to

vi PREFACE

procure data sufficiently reliable to justify the title of this
book.

A chapter was written entitled " The Case for Frozen Meat,"
setting forth specifically the benefit which the new trade has
brought to the world at large, but on consideration it was
perceived that the whole of the book, including the illustra-
tions, diagrams, and tabular and graphic matter in the
appendices, formed a most complete "Case for Frozen Meat,"
and the authors venture to hope that their volume will assist,
to some degree, in popularizing still further the use of frozen
and chilled meat in the Northern Hemisphere, inasmuch as
it draws attention to the able and distinguished men who
pioneered the trade, to the sound quality and drastic inspec-
tion of the meat before export, and to the excellent system
under which the transport and marketing systems are conducted.
The chapters have been written in a plain style, and technical
treatment has been avoided in favour of the general treatise
form. Great efforts towards accuracy have been made, and if
some errors have crept in, the indulgence of readers is asked
for. It has been, of course, the authors' desire to achieve im-
partiality in discussing the work of the pioneers and in touch-
ing on the later developments in which gentlemen and business
houses engaged in the trade have been and are concerned.

The part which the journals published in Australia and New
Zealand took in helping forward the early efforts of the pioneers
by opening their columns to articles and full discussion, deserves
a special word of acknowledgment. At a critical time, un-
doubtedly, this publicity was of considerable assistance to the
growing industry.

In order to procure information on trade questions, the
authors, wherever possible, have gone to the fountain head,
and they owe a heavy debt of gratitude to the many gentlemen
and firms who have been appealed to. Hence they desire in
the fullest and frankest way to return thanks for the prompt
replies to the thousands of letters (over 4,000 in all) written to
all parts of the world — only in a few cases has information been
withheld. Without such kindly assistance there would not
have been any chance of this book being prepared. In par-

PREFACE vii

ticular, acknowledgment is due to some of those whose names
appear in the biographical section ; to Mr. Gilbert Anderson,
Mr. George Goodsir, and Mr. P. B. Proctor, whose statistical
reports have been drawn upon ; and to the leading firms of
importers, agents, and merchants, in Great Britain, who have
supplied practical commercial details for certain sections of the
work. The special assistance of the following gentlemen has
also to be acknowledged : Mr. R. H. Rew, Assistant Secretary of
the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries : Mr. A. Scott, Secretary
of Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping ; Dr. Sergio
Garcia Uriburu, Consul General for Argentina in London ;
Mr. H. W. G. Millman, Clerk and Superintendent of the London
Central Markets ; Captain T. R. Mowat, of Messrs. Johnson's
Sons and Mowat ; Mr. Hal Williams, M.I.Mech.E., M.I.E.E. ;
Mr. M. T. Brown, B.Sc. ; Mr. E. R. Baines, of the Port of London
Authority ; Mr. T. Douglas Huggett, of the London Daily
Telegraph, and Mr. Louis H. Furniss, Secretary of the Incor-
porated Society of Meat Importers.

The plan on which the book has been prepared is, broadly, to
touch on the historical part, with a sketch of the conditions
which gave birth to the industry, and the personages and
leading events figuring in the frozen meat story as re-
frigeration's aid was found practicable for conveying the surplus
meat of the Southern Hemisphere to supply the scarcity of the
Northern. The sequence of chapters takes readers to the con-
sideration of the commercial methods under which frozen and
chilled meat is transported and handled, and sold in Great
Britain. The endeavour mainly has been to describe the
various stages through which frozen meat passes from the time
it is placed on board the steamer until it reaches its predestined
goal, the meat retailer's shop in England or Scotland.

With regard to the pictures appearing in the book, freezing
works are more useful than ornamental, but it has been
thought that to give illustrations of some of these works would
be a fitting accompaniment to the written descriptions of the
meat freezing industry. Ships, real argosies of the ocean when
food-freighted on account of the workers of the Homeland,
need no apology for their presentation in picture form. Many

viii PREFACE

of the pioneers' portraits will be found in the book, and the
photographs of some of the leading merchants and importers
at present engaged in the trade are also given. It is fitting
that in a work of this kind these men, whose business energy
and capital have done so much to build up the trade to its
present commanding position, should receive this special
recognition at the hands of the authors of the History of the
Frozen Meat Trade.

The Index and Appendices have been compiled in a very
detailed form, and it is hoped that the particulars therein
contained, as well as the information recorded in the twenty-
nine chapters, will make this volume a useful and necessary
work of reference.

The authors acknowledge, with thanks, the courtesy of the
proprietors of the journals named below, in giving permission
for the use of photographs : — Engineering, for the two views of
the La Negra Works on p. 82 ; the Cold Storage and Produce
Review, for the portrait of M. Charles Tellier ; Syren and
Shipping for the illustration of the El Zarate on p. 344 ;
Ice and Cold Storage for the picture of the insulated van
on p. 344 ; and the Canterbury Times, New Zealand, for
the page view of the Islington Works of the Christ/church
Meat Company on p. 66.

LONDON,

Easter, 1912.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.

PAOB

BRITAIN'S CALL FOR OVERSEAS SUPPLIES: SHORTAGE AND SURPLUS 1

Earliest Statistics of Home Supplies — Official Anxiety — Early
Attempts at Preserving Meat — Australian and New Zealand
Surplus of Stock — Boiling Down and Tinning — The United States
of America export Frozen Beef in 1874 — Foundations of Argen-
tina's Herds and Flocks — Problem of the Pampas — How it was
solved.

CHAPTER H.

THE WORK OF THE PIONEERS 18

Mort, his Dreams and Achievements — James Harrison — The
Bell-Coleman Machine — Tellier's Shipment per Friyorifique in
1876 — The Pioneer Shipment of Frozen Meat to Europe per s.s.
Paraguay in 1877 — The Strathleven'$ Historic Shipment — Australian
Exports in the Early 80's — New Zealand's Part — The Dunedin —
Brydone's Forecast.

CHAPTER LEI.

THE FREEZING WORKS OF AUSTRALIA 46

Lines of Development — Queensland, its Works and their
History — New South Wales' Enterprises — Chilling Up-Country —
Victoria — South Australia and Western Australia.

CHAPTEB IV.

NEW ZEALAND FREEZING WORKS 60

Tho New Zealand Refrigerating Company, formed at Dunedin
in 1881 — Canterbury Frozen Meat Company — Gear Meat Company,
Wellington — Nelson Brothers' Freezing Works — Christchurch
Meat Company— Wellington Meat Export Company — Establish-
ment of the other Freezing Works in New Zealand — The Opera-
tions at a New Zealand Meat Works.

CHAPTER V.

THE SOUTH AMERICAN FRIOORIFICOS 74

Development Statistics — The Live Cattle Trade and its Stoppage
— River Plate Fresh Meat Company and its Founder — San Nicolas
Works — James Nelson and Sons — Compania Sansinena de Carnes
f'ongeladas— The Falkland Islands and Patagonia— Beef from
Yenr/nelii.

x CONTENTS

CHAPTER VI.

PARE

IMPROVING FLOCKS AND HERDS IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE . 93

Evolution of Mutton Sheep in Australasia — Mr. J. C. N.
Grigg's views — Argentine Imports of Pedigree Stock.

CHAPTER VII.

THE STOCKRAISERS' MARKET 100

The Argentine Way — Australasian Methods — Buying and Selling
Forward — How the c.Lf. Trade is Worked — Grading — Eates and
Freights — From Ship to Cold Store.

CHAPTEE VIH.

THE FUNCTIONS OF THE MEAT INSPECTOR 117

New Zealand Inspection — Australian — Argentine — The Im-
perfect Inspection of Meat killed in the United Kingdom —
Public Health Regulations — An International Standard wanted.

CHAPTEE IX.

THE SHIPOWNERS' BURDEN 126

The Eomance and Statistics of Eefrigerated Shipping — The First
Fleets — The Shaw-Savill Company, the New Zealand Shipping
Company, and the Shire Line Pioneer the Frozen Meat Carrying
Trade from New Zealand — Evolution of the Frozen Meat Carrier
— The Shipowner as Merchant — Freights — Multiplicity of Marks
— Frozen Meat Bill of Lading — How the Australian Shipowners
took up the New Trade — The First Befrigerated Steamers and
when they sailed — The Methods by which Eiver Plate Frozen
Meat was first shipped to Europe — The South American
Eefrigerated Fleet of the Present Day.

CHAPTEE X.

THE UNDERWRITERS' EISK 145

The Producers' Supineness — Early Insurance Covers — Claims,
Surveys, and Allowances— The A 1 Clause — Underwriters' Move
to Eeform — Three Views of Meat Insurance — Appeal to the Courts
— Insurance Details — Surveyors' Duties — Classes of Damage.

CHAPTEE XI.

COLD STORAGE 163

The First Installation in London — Docks Stores — At Smithfield
— Nelson Brothers' Undertakings — Union Cold Storage Company
—Other Cold Stores.

1 , . .

(ONTKMS xi

CHAPTER XII.

r*nt

THE STOREKEEPERS' DUTIES 173

Beaching the Store— Periods of Storage — Mark* — Cold Storage
Rates— Dividends— Responsibilities and Risks— Finality of the
Storekeepers' Weights.

CHAPTEB XHI.

THE GREAT SSHTTIFIELD MARKET 182

Smithfield and its Wide Interests— Old Kmithfield — An Historical

Picture — The Central Markets and their Growth — The Japanese

Village — Evolution of Marketing Methods — The American Invasion

— London Corporation's Claims in 1904 — Trade Operations —

Prices for the Day.

CHAPTEB XIV.

BEACHING THE CONSUMER 200

How the Betail Trade is Divided— The Producer the Would-be
Retailor — New Zealanders' Eyes on the Retail Business — Lamb
r. Mutton — Retailing Beef — A Census of Retail Shops— The
Multiple Shop System.

CHAPTER XV.

PKOVINCIAL DISTRIBUTION 211

The Argument for Outports — South American Meat and Liver-
pool— The West Coast Service — Beview of Liverpool's Facilities —
Manchester — Cardiff — Bristol — Hull — Glasgow — Serving the
Provinces vi& London.

CHAPTER XVI.

CUSTOMERS IN OTHER LANDS 226

Early Attempts on the Continent — The French Market — A

Record of Enterprise in Germany — Austria — Belgium — Other

European Countries — Customers in the East — The Stimulus of

- r<>lil Storage in South Africa — The Mediterranean Garrison

Ports as " Customers "—What the Future may hold.

CHAPTER XVH.

THE CHILLED BEEF TRADE

('hilling contrasted with Freezing— First Trials from Australia
and New Zealand — Argentina in the Field — Sterilizing Australian
Shipments in 1909, 1910, and 1911.

xii CONTENTS

CHAPTEE XVni.

PA OK

SOMK NOTEWORTHY INCIDENTS: 1880-1910 254

Statistical Comparison of Producing Countries' Exports —
Australia's Progress — Australia's Clientele — New Zealand's
Progress — Retail Schemes — Early New Zealand Prices — South
American Beginnings — Chilled Beef — The Argentine Freezing
Works' Anntis Mirabilis— Eandom Jottings: 1890-1908— War
Office and Frozen Meat — Rival Methods of Distribution — Con-
trasting Sale Systems — Producers' Conferences — False Trade
Description — Meat Marking — Rise and Fall of the North American
Dressed Beef Trade.

CHAPTER XIX.

A MISCELLANY 274

Congress of Refrigeration — South Africa as a Meat Exporter —
Lord Bacon's Frigorific Experiment — Frozen Beef from St. Helena
— Hereford Steers at I8d. an Ounce — Frozen Mutton at the Lord
Mayor's Show — Kosher Frozen Meat — An Early Welcome to
Frozen Meat — Enter Mr. Hooley — A Cargo in Coffins — A Frozen
Meat Cooking Recipe — A Frigid Message — Thyroid Extract —
Tallerman Enterprises — Frozen Meat Squibs.

CHAPTER XX.

THE DIETETICS OF FROZEN MEAT 290

" Flourishing on Frozen Meat " — The Pedigree Foundations of
Freezing Stock — Scientific Tests — Dietetic Excellence — Preserva-
tion by Refrigeration — Medical Officers' Testimony.

CHAPTER XXI.

WHAT THE TRADE HAS DONE FOR 'AUSTRALIA 299

(Specially contributed by Mr. John Cooke.)

Early Methods of Disposal of Cattle and Sheep Surplus — Frozen
Meat Exports lead to Increased Land Values — The Drought of
1902— The Benefit to Wool Growers— Source of Income to the
Railways.

CHAPTER XXII.

NEW ZEALAND'S GAIN FROM FROZEN MEAT 303

(Specially contributed by the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Ward.)
The Launching of the Trade — Statistics of Growth from 1882 to
1910 — Frozen Meat and the Prosperity of the Dominion.

CONTENTS xiii

CHAPTER XXHI.

turn

ARGENTINA'S DKBT TO REFRIOBRA in >N 306

(Specially contribute! l.i/ Mr. Herl»*rt (itl>tm.)
Pre-Freesing Day*— Early Pastoral Wealth— The Growth of
Flocks and Herds— Fin»t Freezing Effort*— I >rabble's Enterprise
—Expanding Production of Chilled Beef— Argentina's Possible
Thirty Millions of People by 1950.

CHAPTER XXIV.

How THE BRITISH PUBLIC HAS BENEFITED 313

Early Meat Prices — Lord Onslow and the Beefsteak Club —
Refrigerated Meat's Part in the National Consumption— London's
Benefit— The " Upper Ten "—Frozen Meat and the Army.

CHAPTER XXV.

THE POSITION OF THE BRITISH FARMER 320

Mr. TurnbulTs Special Article: 1880 Compared with 1910—
Comparison of Prices — The Breeds Question — The Effects of
Frozen Meat Imports — A Yorkshire Farmer's Plaint — The
Splendid Pedigree Stock Export Trade — The Farmer's Position
Under Free Imports.

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE INCORPORATED SOCIETY OF MEAT IMPORTERS (FROZEN MEAT

TRADE ASSOCIATION) 329

The Call for a Trade Society — The Frozen Meat Importers'
Association formed in 1894 — Succeeded in 1895 by the Frozen
Meat Trade Association — Disclosing Stocks — The Weekly Prices
Cable — The Charter and the New Name- List of Presidents and
Vice- Presidents.

CHAPTER XXVTI.

MECHANICAL REFRIGERATION 334

The Principles of Mechanical Refrigeration — Early Discoveries
— Some Leaders — Air Compression and Chemical Refrigerants —
Insulation — Modern Refrigerating Devices — Temperature Measure-
ment and recording — The Cold Storage Chain — Railway Refrigera-
tor Cars— Barges— Defrosting Processes.

CHAPTER XXVHI.

LEADING PERSONALITIES IN THE TRADE 351

A Collection of Short Biographies.

xiv CONTENTS

OHAPTEE XXIX.

PAGE

THE FUTURE OF THE INDUSTRY 393

The Home Market's Demands Extending — " The World's mine
Oyster " — Dead Meat the Trade of the Future — British Capital to
be still Further Invested in the Industry — New Zealand Lamb
Prospects — Australia's Possibilities — South America's Meat Export
Outlook — Looking Forward — A Final Word about the Australasian
and Argentine Systems.

APPENDICES.

I. — CATTLE AND SHEEP IMPORTS INTO GREAT BRITAIN FOR FOOD . 403

Sketch of the Trade : its Base and Fall Shown Statistically —
Cattle Diseases Act, 1896— Foreign Animals Order, 1910 —
Australia's Abortive Experiment.

IE. — BY-PRODUCTS OF THE SLAUGHTER-HOUSE 411

Meat Offals from North America, Australasia, and Argentina —
Full List of American Meat By-Products.

III. — THE WORLD'S SUPPLIES OF FROZEN MEAT IN 1910. . . 415

Supplies Dissected and Tabulated — Value of "Customers"
outside the United Kingdom to the Frozen Meat Trade.

IV.— INCORPORATED SOCIETY OF MEAT IMPORTERS' WEEKLY

QUOTATIONS 416

Reproductions of the Weekly Quotations of July 2, 1897, and
July 7, 1911.

V. — COLD STORES AT THE CHIEF PORTS OF GREAT BRITAIN . .418
Tabular List with Capacities.

VI. — COLD STORAGE MAP OF LONDON 420

With Key and Capacities.

VLT. — FREEZING WORKS OF THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE

Complete Tabular Statement of the Situation, Ownership,
Equipment, Capacities, etc., of the Meat Freezing Works in
Australia, New Zealand, and South America.

VIII. — THE REFRIGERATED FLEET 421

Full Liat of Shipping Lines carrying Chilled and Frozen Meat,
with Total Capacities.

CONTENTS xv

APPENDICES — continual.

fAU«

IX.— IMPORTS OP FRO/EN MUTTON AND LAMB INTO GREAT BRITAIN . 422
Yearly Totals from 1880 to 1910.

X. — GRAPHIC CHART OP FROZEN MEAT PRICES (SMITHPIELD
MARKET) FROM 1883 TO 1910

XI. — IMPORTS OP FROZEN AND CHILLED BEEF INTO GREAT

BRITAIN 423

Yearly Totals from 1874 to 1910.

XH. — MECHANICAL REFRIGERATION PATENTS 425

British Patents Granted to Inventors between 1819 and 1876—
Special List Prepared from the Patent Office Records.

INDEX 433

ILLUSTRATIONS

The Steamship StratkUve* Fruntitpiece

Thomas Sutcliffe Mort — Portrait and Statue .... Facing Page 18

James Harrison — Portrait and Monument „ 22

Charles Tellier— Portrait, and the u. Frigorifiqv* . . . „ 26

Portrait— Mr. Andrew Mcllwraith „ 80

The Bailing Ship Dunedi* and Captain Whitson . . . „ 40

Thomas Brydone — Portrait „ 44

The Freezing Works of the Queensland Meat Export Co.,

Brisbane and Townsville „ 48

The Murarrie Freezing Works, Brisbane „ 60

Bird's-eye View of the Rirerina Freezing Works „ 54
The Freezing Works of Messrs. Thomas Borthwick and Sons

(Australasia), Ltd., Portland, Victoria, Australia . . . „ 56

The Picton Freezing Works of the Cliristchurch Meat Co. . . ., 60

The Gear Co.'s Freezing Works, Wellington .... „ 62

The Freezing Works of Messrs. Nelson Brothers, Ltd., at

Oisborne, New Zealand ........ „ 64

The Islington Freezing Works of the Christchurch Meat Co. . „ 66

The Freezing Works of the Wellington Meat Export Co. . „ 68
The Freezing Works of the Oisborne Sheep-Farmers1 Frozen

Meat Co 70

Portraits — The late Mr. George W. Drabble ; the late Senor

Eduardo Olivera ; Dr. Emilio Fren „ 76

The La Negra Freezing Works, Buenos Aires .... „ 82

The La Negra Freezing Works (Interior) „ 82

The La Plata Frigorifico (Interior) „ 84

The San Gregorio Freezing Works, Patagonia .... ., 88

John Grigg, of Longbeach — Portrait and Statue „ 94
The 3,000-guinea Shorthorn Bull, imported into Argentina in

1906 96

The 1,450-guinea Lincoln Ram, imported into Argentina in

1906 98

" Prime Canterbury Lamb " „ 106

Captain Noakes's Mechanical Conveyor „ 112

Facsimile Reproduction of Australasian and Argentine Inspec-
tion Labels „ 118

F.M. b

xviii ILLUSTRATIONS

Section of the s.s. Onoestry Grange Facing Page 126

The 8.8. Remiiera „ 130

The 8.8. Rangatira ,, 134

The s.8. Argyllshire „ 138

The 8.S. El Argentina „ 142

The s.8. Suevie „ 144

Smithfield Market „ 182

Old Smithfield , 184

Smithfield Market — Interior, and North Entrance ... „ 188

Smithfield Market — View from Charterhouse Street ... „ 192

Portrait— Sir Joseph Ward, P.C ,. 302

„ Mr. John Cooke „ 302

„ Mr. Herbert Gibson „ 302

„ Sir Alfred Scale Haslam „ 332

Diagrams — The Compression and Absorption Systems of

Refrigeration „ 334

„ The Bell-Coleman Refrigerating Machine ... ., 336

Portrait — Professor Carl von Linde „ 338

„ Mr. T. B. Lightfoot „ 340

Diagram — Thermograph Temperature Log .... „ 342

Insulated Motor Van built for the La Negra Works ... „ 344

Refrigerated Steam Lighter El Zarate „ 344

Portrait — Mr. Gilbert Anderson ., 352

„ Sir Thomas Borthwick, Bart „ 354

The late Sir E. S. Dawes, K.C.M.G „ 362

„ Mr. H. S. Fitter „ 364

„ The late Mr. J. H. Geddes 366

„ Mr. George Goodsir ,. 368

„ Captain H. E. Greenstreet „ 370

„ Mr. Richmond Keele „ 372

„ The late Mr. E, L. Johnson „ 374

„ Sir E. M. Nelson, K.C.M.G „ 376

„ Mr. William Nelson „ 378

The late Mr. G. F. Swift , 386

„ Mr. J. J. Thomson „ 388

Mr. William Weddel 390

A HISTORY OF THE
FROZEN MEAT TRADE

CHAPTER I

BRITAIN'S CALL FOB OVERSEAS SUPPLIES : SHORTAGE AND

SURPLUS

IT must be rather difficult for those who are engaged in the
various branches of the great overseas frozen meat trade to
realize that only thirty years separate them from the time of
the foundation of what is now recognized as one of the most
important of the world's industries. A commerce that unites
continents, and is an essential factor in the progress of human
civilization to-day, might well be believed to be more than a
generation old, but it does not need a student of history to recall
that this is not the case.

The industry that hangs on the slender piston-rod of a
refrigerating machine, yet feeds nations with a regularity that
defies famine, had its birth within the recollection of many
who are not yet old. The great changes it has wrought in the
world during the first three decades of its existence make all
the more interesting some preliminary inquiry into the circum-
stances which led to its establishment.

Before coming to the conditions which directly gave rise to
and immediately preceded the refrigerated meat industry, it
may be well to deal somewhat fully with two subjects not
completely bearing upon the title of this book, though not by
any means foreign to it, (1) the dwindling flocks and herds in

F.M. B

2 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

Great Britain for some decades prior to the frozen meat era ;
and (2) the canned meat industry in Australasia. This trade
represented the first attempts of the colonists to ship beef and
mutton to the old country, and was the evolutionary form of
the great meat industry, the real and lasting development of
which was to be the preservation and export of meat under
conditions of refrigeration.

A Nation's Need.

It was, of course, the demand for greater meat supplies that
called for the discovery of some means for the safe delivery of
those supplies. The uneasiness that was felt respecting the food
supply in England became very marked by the early fifties,
and the gradual growth of the manufacturing industries made
it clear that Great Britain must be an increasingly important
meat consumer. Manufacturing demanded energetic, flesh-fed
men, but meat supplies and their prices were on a most unsatis-
factory basis for a generation before the establishment of the
great overseas dead meat trade.

Official statistics of the flocks and herds of the United

Kingdom at the middle of the nineteenth century do not exist ;

in fact, no official enumeration of live stock was made in the

United Kingdom before 1867. But the estimates of Mulhall

and McCulloch were, no doubt, fairly accurate. According

to Mulhall, in the ten years 1851 — 1860, the decade in which

meat imports were first brought into the United Kingdom,

the average production of meat — beef, mutton, and pork — in

England, Scotland, and Ireland was 910,000 tons, which gave

72 Ibs. per head per annum ; this was supplemented by an

average import of live cattle furnishing 44,000 tons, making

in all 75 Ibs. of meat per head of population yearly. In the

1861 — 1870 decade the average home production of meat had

increased to 1,036,000 tons, and imported meat to 131,000

tons. It is significant that the home production of these

meats showed no increase from that point up to the days of

the beginnings of frozen meat imports. In the year 1882 the

home production was 1,090,000 tons, and the Continental and

IWITAIN'S CALL FOR OVERSEAS SUPPLIES 3

overseas supplies had grown to 654,000 tons ; these quantities
yielded a per capita annual supply of meat equal to 110 Ibs.,
<>: which the imported supply claimed 43 Ibs. The home-
produced meat in 1882 consisted of 690,000 tons of beef,
305,000 tons of mutton, and 95,000 tons of pork, and the
imported meat was still mainly in the form of live cattle and
sheep. The population of the United Kingdom in 1851 — 1860
averaged 28,265,000, and had grown by 1882 to 35,606,000."

The following totals of the food animals of the United King-
dom— cattle, sheep, and pigs together — may be useful as a
record and as showing the decline in home stocks between 1867
and 1880, the arrest of that fall, and restoration to the figures
of 1867, brought about by the importation of live and dead
meat in the period of thirty years up to 1910 : —

1851—1855 .... 40,676,000 (Mulhall)

1867 46,770,524 (official)

1880 42,974,261

1910 46,491,521

So, prior to the introduction of frozen meat, supplies of home
stock were being overtaken by consumption, and it was plain
that the inhabitants of England would have to be content
with less meat or pay fancy prices for it, or arrange for largely
increased supplies of dead meat to be brought across the seas
to be sold at a moderate price.

Mulhall helps us again in showing how, with stagnant home
supplies of meat, the price advanced. In the ten years
1851 — 1860, the " average " of the wholesale " prices " of first
quality meat — beef, mutton, and pork together — was 6%d.
per lb., during the next decade it had risen to Id. per lb., and
in 1882 the " price " was 8|d. per lb. A parliamentary return
issued in 1911 gives the following average prices for beef of
first quality :— 1851, 4jrf. per lb. ; 1861, 6fd. per lb. ; 1871,
Sd. per lb. ; and 1881, 8±d. per lb.

It is interesting to examine the meat import movement into
the United Kingdom of the last fifty years. For the quin-
quennial period 1861 — 1865 the average quantity of fresh beef,

• 9

4, A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

mutton, and pork imported amounted to only 0*1 Ib. per
head of the population. The coming of frozen meat in 1880 sent
up the average imports for 1881 — 1885 to 3'5 Ibs. For the
five years 1891 — 1895 the average imports were 12'4 Ibs., and
for 1906 — 1910 each unit of the population was provided for
to the extent of 28 Ibs. of fresh meat imported from British
possessions and foreign countries.

Harking back to the days of 1850-1860, the difficulty that
lay ahead had not escaped official notice, for about 1860 the
Privy Council discussed the question of the national food supply,
and numbers of societies and institutions followed the lead thus
given. In 1863 the Privy Council laid down a rule " that, to
avoid starvation diseases, the weekly food of an average adult
must contain 28,600 grains of carbon and 1,300 grains of
nitrogen." Dr. Brown, in " The Food of the People," published
in 1865, wrote : " The plague spot, the skeleton in the closet
of England, is that her people are underfed." This condition
of things was accompanied by the abuse which one would
expect, terrible and shameless adulteration, and the poor were
further defrauded by traders giving short weight.

The most practical step in the direction of providing a more
ample food supply was the formation of a committee of
the Society of Arts, which first met on December 21, 1866.
Amongst those present were Messrs. H. C. E. Childers, M.P.,
Harry Chester, W. Ewart, M.P., Benjamin Shaw, and Lord
Robert Montagu, M.P. As early as 1853 Mr. Chester, in
delivering the centenary address of the Society, asked why
Australia should be content with exporting wool and tallow,
" and not the mutton itself to the hungry masses of this
country ? " The proceedings at the committee's meetings
make most interesting reading. The committee subdivided
itself into four sections : meat, milk, fish, and cooking. That
was the time when canned meats were on their trial. Mr. C. G.
Tindal, Mr. Robert Tooth, Mr. McCall, and others, were ex-
amined, and explained their processes. Dr. Bancroft's " pem-
mican " and Mr. Alexander's powdered beef were tested. (Both
these gentlemen were Queenslanders.) The committee found
that, weight for weight, the dried beef was four times more

BRITAIN'S CALL FOR OVERSEAS SUPPLIES 5

nutritious than ordinary beef. It was stated that 200 patents
had been registered for preserved meat processes, so widely
reco^ni'/A'd was the scarcity of meat in Kn^land. All njrts of
ideas were expounded to the committee. Medlock and Bailey
averred that by dipping meat in their bisulphide of lime
solution " anything of animal origin, from a beefsteak to a
bullock, from a whitebait to a whale, can be preserved sweet
for months." Possibly the bullock and the whale might have
objected ! C. Nielson proposed to fix blood in the form of
sausages, puddings, cakes, and so on. The Rev. M. J.
Berkeley delivered a stirring address on fungi, but somehow
the mushroom palliative failed to impress the committee as a
substitute for the roast beef of Old England. De la Peyrouse's
idea was to pack meat in barrels, and to pour in fat at a tempera-
ture of 300° F. all round the stored viands. Professor Gamgee
loomed large, and his method, though revealing a touch of
Max Adeler, certainly possessed genius. He suggested that
cattle should be happily dispatched by being made to inhale
carbonic oxide gas, at a cost of 2s. to 3s. per animal. The
flesh of oxen so slain was declared to retain its fresh and
bright appearance, and the committee reluctantly and warily
tasted chops from a sheep killed in this way, reporting, doubt-
less to the chagrin of the Professor, that the meat was " slightly
flat." A tin of meat forty-one years old, from the stores of
H.M.S. Blonde, was tested and found sound. Professor
Redwood advocated raw meat preserved in paraffin.

Scores of different processes for tinning meat were tested.
Dr. HassalTs " Flour of Meat," Australian " mutton hams,"
meat dried by sulphurous acid, and many other inventions,
were put before this committee, evidence which contained
the germs of many of the modern methods of preserving and
handling animal substances for food. The committee's records
are packed with good things. For instance, we hear of the
stimulus given to the Australian tinned meat trade by the
Franco-German war. In October, 1875, two huge tin-lined
cases of meat arrived from Melbourne, 30 Ibs. of meat, in
joints, in each case. The meat was wrapped in prepared calico,
and the whole packed in charcoal. Alas ! on opening, the

6 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

Melbourne meat " was found to be in an advanced state of
decomposition." As far back as 1843 the Society of Arts gave
its medal for attempts made in Australia to render down the
lean of meat by means of the water bath and the introduction
of the extract in a solid form. Samples of this extract were
sent on a voyage to Buenos Aires and back, and failure
resulted. This, the authors believe, was the earliest attempt
made in Australia to preserve meat for export.

It was a matter for regret that this committee of the
Society of Arts, after a vigorous and most useful campaign
of fifteen years, came to a sudden stop in 1881. In that
year the committee delivered a gloomy report, and found itself
unable to award the £100 prize which Sir Walter Trevelyan
had presented for the best means of preserving fresh meat.
This £100 was disposed of by being divided into five sums of
£20 and granted to food and cooking exhibits at the 1884
Health Exhibition. Without doubt, the introduction of frozen
meat in 1880 settled the whole difficulty which the Society of
Arts' committee had spent so many years in trying to solve,
and it could only have been blindness to facts — the success of
the Strathleveri's trial was common knowledge in 1881 — that
made the committee in its report neglect its obvious duty
of stating that the introduction of frozen meat removed all
its difficulties. Emphatically, Sir Walter Trevelyan's £100
prize should have been awarded to Thomas Sutcliffe Mort, of
Sydney, as Chapter II. of this volume will show.

It may be remarked at this point, where attention has been
drawn to the necessity of Britain, already fully stocked with
cattle and sheep, looking abroad for her further needful food
supplies, that, apparently, France, Germany, Austria, Italy,
and Switzerland are reaching, or have now reached, the same
stage in their economic development. In the early part of the
twentieth century the peoples of these Continental countries are
making the same investigations as to the nature and source
of their future imported meat, and entering upon the same
struggles in their initial efforts to secure supplies from the lands
of the south, as did the inhabitants of England in the sixties
and seventies.

BRITAIN'S CALL I'nR OVERSEAS SUPPLIES 7

Surplus of Live Stock in the Southern Hemisphere.

So much for a nation's need and the experimental and un-
practical efforts made to relieve it. Next may be considered
the circumstances in the countries in the Southern Hemisphere,
Australia, New Zealand, and Argentina, from which, to a
limited extent by means of meat preservation, and eventually
more thoroughly through refrigeration's aid, the real relief was
to come.

In Australia and New Zealand in the seventies sheep had
increased so rapidly in number that it was apparent that, as a
wool producer only, the full value of the animal was not being
realized. The flocks grew, the population remained small, and
there was no means of adequately dealing with the surplus
stock. It was in the eventful period 1868 to 1879 that the
frozen meat trade had its genesis, when Harrison and Mort in
Australia, and Tellier and Carr6 in France, were experimenting,
and when the successful voyage of the Strathleven set all doubts
at rest as to whether the surplus meat of the New World could
be brought in a perfectly fresh and sound state to supply the
shortage in the Old.

Tinned meat export had been instituted in Australia prior
to the establishment of the frozen meat trade, and of this
collateral industry some brief particulars as to its pioneering
may be given here.

Apropos of meat tinning or canning, it is interesting to note
that the first person to preserve meat in closed jars by employ-
ing heat was a Frenchman, Appert. Earliest mention of his
process occurred in 1809. At first glass bottles were used,
and soon afterwards iron tins (English patent 3,310, 1810,
H<ine). The soldered tins made of tinplate were introduced
through the French brothers Pellier about 1850. The great
German chemist, Liebig, gave a lead to the Australian pioneers
of the canning industry by applying chemistry to the invention
of extract of beef. Replying to an inquiry as to whether
Liebig ever studied the problem of applying cold to meat
storage and transport, Dr. L. Geret, of the Liebig Co.'s scien-
titir department, Antwerp, reports that Liebig never considered

8 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

refrigeration in this connection. In Liebig's " Chemical
Letters " (Vol. XI., 32nd letter, p. 139, 4th edit.) he alludes to
the surplus cattle in Australia and the River Plate as " merely
export material for tallow and hides production." Liebig's
first experiments on a commercial scale in the manufacture of
extract were carried out in the River Plate about 1863 or 1864.
Mr. G. C. Giebert was the first general manager in South
America of the Liebig's Extract of Meat Co.

The first men to preserve meat by practical tinning methods
in Australia were the late Henry Dangar, of the Hunter River,
New South Wales, and his brother, the late William Dangar,
of Turanville, Scone. Discontented with the wretchedly low
values of cattle — they had sold a mob of splendid bullocks in
Sydney for £2 12s. Qd. a head in 1846 — Messrs. Dangar set
about starting tinning works. Towards the end of 1847 they
began operations at Honeysuckle Point, near Newcastle, New
South Wales. Mr. Charles Gedye was manager ; the meat was
packed in 4 Ib. and 6 Ib. tins, and hermetically sealed, the tins
being painted and labelled in London. The meat (beef,
mutton, tongues, and soup and bouilli) sold readily in London,
and the Admiralty took quantities of it. The factory was
carried on with success — meat at first cost only fd. per Ib. — but
the gold discoveries in 1851 raised the price of cattle to such a
prohibitive figure that the works were closed early in the
fifties, and now Honeysuckle Point is covered with dwelling-
houses. Messrs. H. E. and M. Moses, of New South Wales,
were also canning meat about that time.

In 1850 there were 110 boiling down establishments in
Australia, and the production of tallow was enormous. The
sheep slaughtered for this purpose numbered 800,000, cattle
73,000 : the tallow exported in that year was close on 11,000
tons, valued at £301,000. At one works (Russell's, Hunter
River) 12,000 sheep were boiled down in four weeks. In 1851
the scale of boiling down enterprise greatly increased, and
probably about 10 per cent, of all the sheep in Australia fell
victims to this wasteful process in that year. Dr. Lang, one
of Australia's ablest pioneers in the problems of public life,
religion, and education, inveighed against " this wholesale and

BRITAIN* CALL FOR OVERSEAS SUPPLIES 9

enormous destruction of valuable animal food going on in New
South Wales for eight years. . . . Viewed in connection with
the fact that there are millions ' at home ' on the brink of
starvation, this destruction is discreditable to Great Britain
ami her rulers, and cannot but be peculiarly offensive in the
sight of Heaven."

The tinning trade was certainly a useful outlet for the surplus
sheep and cattle in the early days. A few years before the
time when the millions of visitors to the Great Exhibition of
1851 were confronted with Australian tinned mutton, cattle
in the grazing regions of Australia were worth only £2 to £4 per
head, but the gold discoveries of 1851 proved a time of blessing
to cattle owners, prices then going up to £8 to £10 per head.
But the increasing flocks were ever a problem to the Australian
sheep farmer. Boiling down for tallow, the earliest method
of supplementing the pastoralist's returns from his wool, was a
crude system, with strict limitations. The following table
gives some idea of how the pastoralists and graziers of Australia
stood with regard to their local market, and why they were
forced to find markets abroad : —

-

Population.

Cattle.

>),..-.;,.

1851

403,889

1,894,834

15,993,954

1861

1,153,973

3,846,554

20,135,286

1871

1,668,377

4,277,228

40,072,955

1881

2,252,617

8,010,991

65,078,341

After Messrs. Dangar's meat tinning enterprise of the
late forties, not much appears to have been done in Australia
till 1865 and 1866. In the former year Mr. Robert Tooth
began making extract at Yengarie, Queensland, and Tooth's
Extract of Meat Co. (London Bridge) states that Messrs.
Allen and Hanbury were the consignees of the first parcel
to be imported, on July 24, 1866. About 1875 Mr. Tooth
retired from the business, and devoted himself to sugar
growing in Manila. Mr. C. G. Tindal, a pioneer in meat
preservation, studied Liebig's works when he was a young man,
and came across a chemist at Clapham named Deane, who was

10 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

making splendid extract and selling it at 35s. per Ib. ; Brady,
of Newcastle, and Reynolds, of Leeds, were making a cheaper
extract. Mr. Tindal worked with Deane for some time, and
then began making Liebig's extract of meat at Ramornie, New
South Wales, on September 13, 1866. From that year manu-
facture and export have been continuous. Mr. Alban Gee,
the present manager of the Sydney Meat Preserving Co.,
went out from England to Ramornie in 1866, and the late
Mr. Thomas Cordingley went to the same place in 1872. In
1875 Mr. Cordingley started preserving mutton in Botany Bay,
and later, supported by Mr. Tindal, he formed the North Queens-
land Meat Export Co. at Alligator Creek, North Queensland, a
successful concern now working under the management of Mr.
Harold Cordingley. Mr. C. G. Tindal, in answer to an inquiry,
writes as follows : " I hold an autograph letter from Baron
Liebig on the subject of making his extract, which has been
made use of in two trials at law, and which established the
right of myself and other makers to call the extract we make
4 Liebig's Extract ' throughout Great Britain. But the Law
Courts on the Continent decided against us."

The Melbourne Meat Preserving Co. was formed in 1868,
Mr. S. S. Ritchie, who had been a partner with Mr. John
McCall, of London, being mainly instrumental in its establish-
ment. Messrs. J. McCall and Co. were intimately associated
with the building up of the tinned meat trade.

The Sydney Meat Preserving Co., Ltd., of Sydney, which was
a concern established in 1869 for the purpose of preventing the
fluctuation of the price of fat stock brought to the Sydney
market, has a paid-up capital of £20,315, and reserves amount-
ing to £67,684, but no dividends are paid upon the capital. The
mode of operation is for persons who send stock to Flemington,
Sydney, to allow the Sydney Meat Preserving Co. a rebate of
2J per cent, on its purchases ; this, in ordinary years, means
an eighth of a penny per Ib. The payment of this rebate is
not a compulsory charge, and is not allowed by all the persons
who sell stock, but all the larger stockowners allow the rebate
to the company. The purchases of stock vary, of course,
from year to year, in accordance with the condition of the

BRITAIN'S CALL FOR OVERSEAS SUPPLIES 11

market ; if the markets are good, very little stock is purchased.
The account up to June 30, 1910, shows that during tin-
l»n \ii.us half-year the company bought 498,609 sheep and
1,472 cattle. The stock purchased by the company are killed
at its yards. None of the meat is sold, but the whole of the
carcasses are canned or turned into tallow, so that the purchases
of the company do not come into competition with those of the
ordinary butchers.

Australian canned meat began to be known to the British
public by the year 1867. Before that time preserved meat
had only been used by the services, by explorers, and on
sailing ships, but it appealed to the public very soon after
the first imports came along — the Midlands took a great
fancy to it, and clamoured for it. Shipments were easily
absorbed. No American meat of any kind was imported
during the sixties, and Australia was the pioneer of the
tinned as she was of the frozen meat trade. South American
tinned meat was first imported in 1871. Boiled mutton was
the principal article turned out when the business began, and
corned beef was also shipped. The growth of this trade
was remarkable ; in 1867 the United Kingdom's imports from
Australia were 286,526 Ibs., in 1868 no less than 878,444 Ibs.,
while in 1869 they advanced to 2,000,000 Ibs. In 1880 Great
Britain imported 16,000,000 Ibs. of canned meat.

The position in New Zealand was much the same as in Aus-
tralia, there being a large surplus of sheep which the small
population was quite unable to deal with profitably. After
shearing it was not an uncommon thing for the old and inferior
animals to meet the fate of the Gadarene swine. Boiling down
works were the first means introduced to deal with this surplus,
and on many of the stations in New Zealand are still to be seen
the primitive plants erected for that purpose. There was, of
course, enormous waste ; the sheep were kept during the flush
of grass in the summer and then boiled down for tallow — wool
and tallow were the only products. All sorts of plans were
tried ; legs of mutton packed in tallow were shipped to England,
and although the meat arrived in good condition, the enter-
prise failed.

12 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

The next step was canning. About 1869 a large company,
the New Zealand Meat Preserving Co., established works
in various districts — Templeton, Styx, Kakanui, Washdyke,
Green Island, and Woodlands, in the South Island, and in
a few North Island centres, though at that time the North
Island carried but few sheep. At these works the best joints
were preserved, and the rendering of tallow from the rest of
the carcass was also carried on. Preserving was rough and
ready, as there was no chilling process available to hold the
meat for any time. All the offal and the skin were wasted.
Owing to unreliability of quality, the canning business did not
pay, and all the works were ultimately closed down. The sheep
industry in New Zealand at this period was unprofitable ; the
surplus animals often went for 6d. or Is. per head, and, as a rule,
the measure of value was the skin on their backs. Various
attempts were made to preserve meat by chemical and other
means, but were not successful, and from 1865 to 1882 run-
holders in New Zealand had a very bad time. It is a matter
of great regret that very few of them were able to stand
against the adverse conditions till the better day brought by
the frozen meat export trade had dawned.

The population of New Zealand at the start of the frozen
meat trade was about 500,000, and the statistics of New
Zealand's herds and flocks from 1851 to 1881 are as follow : —

-

Population.

Cattle.

Sheep.

1851

26,707

68,000*

233,043

1861

99,021

193,285

2,761,383

1871

256,393

436,592

9,700,629

1881

489,933

698,637

12,985,085

* Approximate.

The Real Genesis of Meat Export.

Australia and New Zealand were not, of course, the only
countries striving to " realize " on their surplus live stock, and
the United States of America was the first country to inaugurate
a meat trade dependent on artificially cooled storage during

HIUTAIN'S CALL FOR OVERSEAS SUPPLIES 19

transport. That this was a welcome industry to America goes
without saying, seeing that in 1874, when beef was first
exported to Great Britain, cattle on farms in the United
States of America numbered 27,000,000 — the population was
well under 50,000,000. Undoubtedly, the real genesis of the
meat export trade under conditions of refrigeration is to be
found in the shipments of chilled beef from the United States
of America in the seventies ; by the end of 1880, when only
400 carcasses of mutton had reached home from Australia, Great
Britain had imported from North America 120,000 tons of fresh
beef. (See pp. 190, 191, for other references to this trade.)
But as the general conditions and lines of development of the
North American chilled beef trade were so widely different
from those associated with the Australasian and South
American frozen meat trades, extended references to it do not
come within the scope of this book.

Argentina : The Problem of the Pampas.

One can go back a long way in tracing the introduction and
history of the cattle and sheep which roam the pampas of the
Argentine Republic. The progress of this great industry, the
backbone of Argentina's prosperity, must have been inter-
woven with adventure and romance ; of this we get an
occasional glimpse in reading the scanty literature which may
be consulted by anyone wishing to acquaint himself with the
intermediate steps between the fine freezing stock now entering
the frigorificos and the first stock introduced into the Republic,
which introduction took place in the sixteenth century.

One Captain Nuflo Chaves brought the first sheep to
Argentina in 1550. As to horned stock, Juan de Salozer y
Espinosa introduced in 1552 seven cows and one bull, which
are said to have been the foundation of the mighty herds
that are scattered over the Campo to-day. Spanish colonists
soon settled in the Plate district, and Juan Torre de Vega
y Aragon, recognizing the suitability of the pampas for
stock breeding, distributed 4,000 cows and bulls and 4,000
sheep amongst the colonists. Soon the herds and flocks

14 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

went beyond the needs of the small population, and even in
those early days the question of export was mooted to relieve
the congestion caused by overstocking. But the ideas of the
cattle-owners did not soar beyond hides, to export which to
Spain and Brazil the " Governor and Captain General of the
province of the River Plate " issued licences. This was the
position in 1616, when the ship Our Lady of Refuge left Buenos
Aires with 1,281 hides, valued at 10,248 reales — about £117.
So, three hundred years ago, pastoral products were of little
account in the River Plate. From the first the herds and flocks
multiplied enormously, and in the seventeenth century it was
recorded that " all the wealth of these inhabitants consists in
their animals, which multiply so prodigiously that the plains
are covered with them, particularly with bulls, cows, sheep,
horses, mares, mules, asses, pigs, deer, and other sorts, in such
numbers that, were it not for the dogs that devour the calves
and other tender animals, they would devastate the country "
— a sort of internecine strife between the animals that preceded
the latter day organized onslaught of the frigorifico.

Mr. Herbert Gibson, in his book on " The Sheep Breeding
Industry in the Argentine Republic," states that " sheep were
neglected and despised. They were almost classed with wild
beasts and fowl, looked upon as public property, and allowed
to roam at will, and increase or die off as the years were clement
or severe." They were of two classes, the pampa sheep,
descended from the mountain long- wools imported from Spam,
and the criollo, the much degenerated descendants of the
Spanish merinos. It is curious to note that the two great
sheep countries of the world, Australia and the River Plate,
introduced the improved Spanish merino at the same date.
In 1794 Don Manuel Jose de Labarden exported ten rams and
twenty ewes from Spain to the Banda Oriental (the old romantic
name for Uruguay), which at that time was one of the provinces
of the River Plate Viceroyalty. In 1813 Mr. Henry Lloyd
Halsay imported 100 improved Spanish merino sheep and
founded the first fine-woolled merino flock in the province of
Buenos Aires. The first introduction of English sheep took
place in 1825, with the purchase of thirty Southdowns, and

mUTANTS CALL FOR OVERSEAS SUPPLIES 15

the first Lincolns were imported in the forties. Particulars
in detail of British pedigree stock imported into Argentina will
be found on p. 98.

Harking back to the general position of live stock, the
estancieros had now to consider how to find an outlet for
the enormous herds of cattle and flocks of sheep that were
running almost wild over the River Plate plains. Some
bold spirits about 1717 started a large salting works at
Buenos Aires, and the beef was exported. In 1794 the live
stock breeders of Buenos Aires and Monte Video presented
a petition to the Minister, Don Diego Cardogin, urging the
free exportation of tallow and jerked beef, the trade to be
assisted by the introduction of " eight or nine hundred Irish-
men, bachelors and Roman Catholics." In the early eighties
so great was the congestion of the sheep that in one case a
flock was driven to the coast and a portion were precipitated
over the cliffs into the sea. By 1822 the export trade in hides,
tallow, and wool, had grown to a total for the year valued at
$3,300,000. We find news of increasing quantities of salted
meat passing through the Buenos Aires customs house for
export from 1862 (357,860 quintals) to 1866 (430,781 quintals).

The importance of this trade to-day is seen when it is
stated that nearly one-half of the cattle of Argentina depend
on the up-river saladeros, where the number slaughtered
exceeds the total number handled at the frigorificos — such
is the importance of the Argentine salted and jerked beef
business. The first Shorthorns were imported in 1865 by Don
Juan N. Fernandez — a historic event. The foundation of the
Argentine Rural Society quickly followed, and marked the
systematizing of the laudable efforts of cattle farmers who had
already commenced to convert the primitive cattle raising
business into a well-organized and intelligent pastoral industry.
It was from 1850 to 1860 that the importation of pure-bred
stock was started on a commercial scale for the purpose of
improving the herds of Argentina. In 1868 the Government
of Argentina offered $8,000 for the discovery of a practical
means of preserving fresh meat, and in 1877 the export duties
on fresh meat were suspended for five years. In 1882 these

16 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

duties were abolished. It may be interesting to give here the
figures of the four official stock censuses that have been
taken in Argentina : —

Cattle.

Sheep.

1875

1888
1895
1908

13,337,862
21,963,930
21,701,526
29,116,625

57,501,261
66,701,097
74,379,562
67,211,754

At this stage of the great Argentine Republic's live
stock industry, the estancieros perceived that the means
hitherto employed of dealing with the ever-increasing surplus
of animals were both unscientific and obsolete. Boiling
down, the last resort of the stock breeder, was found to
be as unprofitable as it was wasteful, and in the seventies
the sheep of Argentina had increased to such an extent
that even this desperate remedy for the accumulating flocks
failed to dispose of the surplus. The saladeros' profitable
consumption of cattle was also found to be limited. The ideal
before the stock breeders was (1) to use their fat cattle and sheep
to good purpose financially ; (2) to handle the surplus in such
a way as would lead to a trade at once permanent and increas-
ing ; and (3) to see to it that the new outlets should involve
a steady improvement in the standard of quality of the herds
and flocks. It was perceived that only one avenue promised
the realization of these conditions — the export of the Republic's
stock to supply the needs of European countries, where
fat sheep and cattle were few and men were many. So in 1874
the export of live cattle and sheep began, and by the end of
1879 close on 1,000,000 head of cattle and 165,000 sheep had
been shipped away. On p. 75 appears a full statement of the
rise and fall of this industry.

The essay in 1876 of the steamer Frigorifique, with Charles
Tellier at the helm, was possibly the stimulus which helped
to set going the Argentine frigorificos on their successful
career. (But the success of the Strathleven venture had more
to do with it.) The steamer Paraguay, two years later, with

BRITAIN'S CALL FOR OVERSEAS SUPPLIES 17

frozen meat on board for the Old World, kept the ball
rolling, and prepared the country for the real start in 1883
of the great Argentine export trade in dead meat. When
the River Plate Fresh Meat Co., at Campana, and Messrs.
8. G. Sanainena and Co., at Barracas, built their meat works,
the sheep of the country were by no means pretentious.
"Woollies" were purchasable at $2 to $3 a head. The
improvement of the Argentine sheep by the introduction of the
pun --bred English Lincoln and other breeds was yet to come ;
the average weight of the frozen carcass was 35 Ibs. This was
confirmed by the fact that the Smithfield salesmen were wont
to speak of the Argentine mutton carcasses when they first
arrived as " rats." The advantage of exporting their stock
in the form of dead meat, as compared with the live stock trade,
was quickly appreciated by the cattle and sheep breeders of
Argentina, who found, as the industry took root and expanded,
that in the frozen meat trade they had found a way of dealing
with their stock at once profitable, economic, and scientific.

As the improvement in quality, both of sheep and cattle,
became general, the frozen meat from the Argentine com-
manded a better price in the home markets, and enabled the
freezing companies to outbid the live-stock exporters even
before the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in 1900 brought
the trade of the latter to a termination. In subsequent years
the average prices paid for wethers and steers have exceeded
the highest ever obtained in the period when the live-stock
exporter competed with the freezer, and the Argentine
breeder is now persuaded that the dead meat trade is his
most profitable market. The economy it represents is too
obvious to merit discussion ; the labour employed in the
factories, the hides, tallow, and offal that remain at the
Argentine end, the economy in space and in freight, all com-
bine to secure for the exporting country the maximum
quantity of the total value of the animal. In the improved
methods of handling and carrying the dead meat, its collection
in cold storage in the Argentine and its distribution in the
European markets, the River Plate has achieved the most
scientific application of its commerce.

F.M. c

CHAPTER II

THE WORK OF THE PIONEERS

WITH the light of less than four decades shining on the
brilliant achievements of those who played the part of pioneers
in the frozen meat industry, the task of according each name
concerned the exact importance it bears in relation to succeed-
ing progress is not an easy one. For instance, while the date
on which one inventor patented a certain freezing process may
be prior to the launching of a scheme by another, pioneering
pride of place may belong to a third whose foresight of the
ultimate situation was clear, and whose early work, therefore,
was more material in setting the industry on its legs.

The work of the French chemist and engineer Carre must
always be regarded for its early date ; James Harrison, whose
record of early struggle, achievement, and failure, is tersely
recorded in a Geelong cemetery, can never be forgotten ; while
the efforts of Mort in Australia, and the Americans who
established the earliest refrigerated trade across the Atlantic,
must have a pre-eminence of their own.

Thomas Sutcliffe Mort.

The figure of Thomas Sutcliffe Mort stands out boldly
amongst all the pioneers and experimenters in Australia and
elsewhere whose efforts laid the foundations of the frozen
meat trade. Mr. Mort cheerfully spent a large fortune in
experimental enterprises in practical meat freezing, and his
conception of the future that awaited the industry was
prophet-like, so sympathetic and keen was his grasp of the
subject — as will be seen in reading the sentences extracted
from his speech, which are given below.

Mr. Mort was born at Bolton, Lancashire, on December 23,
1816, emigrating to Australia in 1838, and later founding the

IHMMVS M-I-I IIKKK. M"l:l, AM> TH* 8TATVE ERElTED TO HIS MEMORY AT SYDNEY.

faff p. 18.

THE WORK OF THE PIONEERS 19

great financial and wool-broking firm of Mort and Co. This firm
afterwards amalgamated with that of R. Goldsbrough and Co.,
Ltd., under the name of Goldsbrough, Mort and Co., Ltd. As
early as 1843 Mr. Mort turned his attention to meat matters,
and was later introduced by Mr. Augustus Morris to
the French engineer Nicolle. The pair took up the subject of
freezing meat for export, and experiments were conducted,
Mort supplying the capital and Nicolle the engineering skill.
Partial freezing, " chilling," Telh'er's plan, was tried and re-
jected, as it was soon realized that thorough congealing was
far preferable for the proper preservation of meat. Mr. Mort in
1861 established at Darling Harbour, Sydney, the first freezing
works in the world. Thirteen years later Mr. Mort's company
became the New South Wales Fresh Food and Ice Co. The
original freezing process at these works was applied in two
large apartments, each about 75 feet square and 9 feet 9 inches
high, and enclosed by brick walls 4 feet 6 inches thick. The
freezing room below was used for the treatment of meat for
export. In 1875 the collateral enterprise, the slaughtering
works at Lithgow Valley, Blue Mountains, was completed :
the two establishments were intended to supply the Sydney
market. Ammonia compression refrigerating machinery was
used at these works.

At an inaugural lunch on September 2, 1875, at which 300
persons attended, including Sir John Hay, the Hon. J. Docker,
Sir Saul Samuel, the Hon. (afterwards Sir) John Robertson, and
Mr. (afterwards Sir) Henry Parkes, Mr. Mort made his famous
speech, the peroration of which stands out as a white stone in
the annals of the Australian meat trade, clearly showing him
to have been a man of imagination, noble aims, and high
character. Mr. Mort in this speech said that Mr. Morris first
suggested the " diabolical idea " of freezing meat to send to
England. " I can tell you that not once but a thousand times
have I wished that Mr. Morris, Mr. Nicolle, and myself had
never been born." Mr. Mort mentioned that the Sydney
Chamber of Commerce about 1867 had put up a sum of money
for him to provide meat for distribution in England, and to
overcome the English prejudice against " frozen " meat. (This

• i

20 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

reads curiously, for in 1867 not an ounce of (mechanically)
frozen meat had reached England !) The meat upon which
Mr. Mort feasted his 300 was, of course, all frozen, and he stated
that some of it had been kept since June, 1874. He told his
guests that Australia was destined to become the great feeder
of Europe.

" Before long France and England will look to us almost
entirely for their supply of food." Mr. Mort suggested the
breeding of Highland cattle, as this breed secured top prices
in English markets. Mr. Mort's classic peroration must be
given verbatim.

" I feel, as I have always felt, that there is no work on the
world's carpet greater than this in which I have been engaged.
Yes, gentlemen, I now say that the time has arrived — at all
events, is not far distant — when the various portions of the
earth will each give forth their products for the use of each and
of all ; that the over-abundance of one country will make up
for the deficiency of another ; the superabundance of the
year of plenty serving for the scant harvest of its successor ; for
cold arrests all change. Science has drawn aside the veil, and
the plan stands revealed. Faraday's magic hand gave the
keynote, and invention has done the rest. Climate, seasons,
plenty, scarcity, distance, will all shake hands, and out of the
commingling will come enough for all, for ' the earth is the
Lord's and the fulness thereof,' and it certainly lies within
the compass of man to ensure that all His people shall be
partakers of that fulness. God provides enough and to spare
for every creature He sends into the world ; but the conditions
are often not in accord. Where the food is, the people are not ;
and where the people are, the food is not. It is, however, as
I have just stated, within the power of man to adjust
these things, and I hope you will all join with me in believing
that the first grand step towards the accomplishment of this
great deed is in that of which you yourselves have this day
been partakers and witnesses."

Mr. Mort is supposed to have spent £80,000 in connection
with his freezing experiments, and £20,000 besides was put
up by Australian squatters for a trial shipment to England

nil. WORK OF THE PIONEERS 21

about 1876, for which the sailing ship Northnm was chartered.
Mr. Andrew Mcliwraith, who happened to be in Sydney at the
time the vessel was being fitted with an ammonia installation
similar to that used on land, supplies for these pages the
following special account of this historic effort : —

" We found that a considerable space in the square of the
main hatch had been bulkheaded off as a meat chamber. The
insulation consisted of a 15-inch space between two bulkheads
run in with tallow, and inside the chamber the cold brine pipes
were fixed. It occurred to us as we went round that there
was a danger of destruction to the meat in having the pipes in
the chamber, should the movement of the ship strain the pipes
and a leakage occur, and, as a matter of fact, that is what took
place, but fortunately before the vessel left the harbour."

The meat had to be discharged, thus making an end of the
experiment before it had really begun. This failure was a
terrible blow to Mr. Mort, and hastened his death. He died at
Bodalla, New South Wales, in 1878, and to his memory a
monument was erected by public subscription. Had Mort
spent less time in research work on the mechanical side of
refrigeration, his actual achievement in starting the new trade
might have been greater. There were many engineers working
out the scientific problems in Europe at the time, and had Mort
depended on their labours rather than spending his time
experimenting along with Nicolle, it is possible that the commer-
cial beginning of the trade might have been in 1876 instead of
1879.

Before passing to another pioneering record a word may be
said about Mr. Mort's associate, Eugene Dominique Nicolle.
Mr. Nicolle was born at Rouen in 1824, visited Australia in
1853, and became manager for the well-known Sydney
house, P. N. Russell and Son. In the days when Mort
and Nicolle were actively engaged in overcoming the diffi-
cult ies of meat and provision export (1860 to 1877), ice was
imported from America, and Mr. Nicolle did interesting work in
running a factory at Darlinghurst for the manufacture of ice by
chemical process. As a preliminary to the placing on board
ship of a freezing machine to be used for the frozen meat trade

22 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

contemplated by Mr. Mort and himself, Mr. Nicolle erected a
special chamber at the back of the Royal Hotel, George Street,
Sydney, where the process was tested for fifteen months.
Negotiations were first opened up with the owner of the well-
known trader Whampoa, but fell through when it was heard
that liquefied ammonia was to be the freezing agent. In the
same year as Mr. Mort died, Mr. Nicolle retired from busi-
ness and settled on Lake Illawarra, where he died a com-
paratively short time ago.

James Harrison.

James Harrison, another Briton who made Australia the
scene of pioneer work in meat freezing and also in the manu-
facture of ice, was born in Glasgow in 1816, the same year
as Mort first saw the light. That Harrison deserves place as
one of the pioneers, if not the pioneer, of the frozen meat trade
admits of no shadow of doubt. In an article in the Melbourne
Age (of which important journal Harrison was editor for
some time), written in 1893, at the time of his death, on
September 3, 1893, aged 77, at Geelong, occurs this passage :
"It is a striking proof of his insight that he was the first to
see the enormous source of wealth that lies still undeveloped
in the export of meat from the Australian pastures. The very
industry which Mr. Russell tells us has pulled New Zealand
out of the shoals into calm water was receiving Mr. Harrison's
strenuous advocacy thirty years ago." Long before the year
indicated by the Age (1863) Harrison was not only " advo-
cating " but busily experimenting with his ice-making
machinery.

He emigrated to Sydney about 1837. In 1840 he settled at
Geelong, " Australia Felix," — as Victoria was styled in the early
days — taking up journalism, and in 1850, having some leisure,
devoted himself to the working out of an ice-making scheme.
He acquired land at Rodey Point, on the Barwon, and there
erected his first ice factory at a cost of £1,000. In 1851 the
brewing firm of Glasgow and Co., Bendigo, installed a refri-
gerator of the Harrison type. This was the world's pioneer
of such machines. Perceiving that the works were too small

.i \\ii.s IIAI;I:I-IN.

MOM MKM I" IVMK.S HAKIilMiN IN G KMKIKKY.

I'u f'.i,;- />.

THE WORK OF THE PIONEERS !»:*

to make a commercial profit, Harrison travelled to London in
1857. His two first English patents (see Appendix) are
dated March 28, 1856, and September 10, 1857 ; two years
previously the machine had been patented in Australia. He
had corresponded with Faraday and Tyndall, and discussed
freezing problems with those distinguished men. He also got
into touch with Siebe Brothers, who had a jobbing foundry in
Red Lion Court, Holborn, and Mr. Siebe made a large machine
for him, which was taken to Hobson's Bay in the ship Tricolor
on Harrison's return to Australia. It may be mentioned that
Mr. H. J. West, an early inventor of refrigerating machinery
and founder of the firm of refrigerating engineers which bore
his name, was manager of, and later a partner in, the firm of
Siebe Brothers, and knew Mr. Harrison well. Mr. West died
in 1910.

On his return to Australia Harrison devoted himself specially
to meat freezing, and before attempting export he experi-
mented in the preservation of meat for lengthy periods on land.
At Melbourne, about 1873, he publicly exhibited his cold-pro-
ducing machine, and by its means several carcasses of sheep,
sides of beef, poultry, fish, etc., were frozen, and six months
afterwards these viands were consumed at a public banquet.

Like Mort, three years later, James Harrison failed when he
put his process of meat preservation to the test of sea voyage,
and the failure mined him. All the profits of his newspaper
were eaten up in his experiments and by the disaster which
befel the shipment when the 20 tons of mutton and beef placed
on board the s.s. Norfolk went bad on the journey to London.
The vessel sailed in July, 1873, from Sandridge Railway Pier,
Melbourne ; the meat had been frozen on board in "two tanks,"
ice and salt freezing mixture being used to effect the refrigera-
tion of the cargo. The tanks leaked, and when the vessel
arrived at London in October the meat was unsaleable. This
terrible blow, no doubt, crushed the inventor's spirit, as it
ruined his fortunes, for he soon sought retirement in London,
where he spent some years in scientific study.

The refrigerating machine of Harrison's which was put to
work in a paraffin factory in England in 1860 was probably

24 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

the first refrigerating plant ever applied to a manufacturing
process, though the Americans state that Professor Twining,
about the same time, had an ether machine at work at Cleve-
land, Ohio. The Patent Office is probably the best guide to
settle priority in inventions, and, according to this, Harrison,
excepting Perkins, whose 1834 patent never seems to have got
beyond Chancery Lane, was years ahead of all rivals ; Carre
was four years after him, Tellier eight years, Mort eleven,
Little twelve, Pictet thirteen, and Postle seventeen years later,
according to London Patent Office records. The accompanying
reproduction of a photograph of the inscription on James
Harrison's tomb at Geelong tells briefly the story of the man's
great work.

Mr. J. D. Postle must be numbered among Australian
pioneers as an experimenter, about 1869, at Melbourne with
the chilling of meat by means of an air compression machine.
Evidence of the early spread of enterprise in the new industry
is afforded by the fact that the Melbourne Australasian from
1868 to 1880 contained a great mass of correspondence dealing
with the earliest days of meat freezing and the merits of the
various systems of refrigeration.

The Bell-Coleman Machine.

The name " Bell-Coleman " must, where meat freezing is
concerned, ever remain an honoured one in the two hemispheres,
for it was through the agency of a Bell-Coleman refrigerating
machine that there was landed in London early in 1880 the
first shipment of fresh meat ever successfully carried from
Australia. In the career of Mr. (now Sir) Henry Bell is
contained the history of this and other pioneering efforts in
meat refrigeration, and some account of his early work has
proper place here.

Mr. Bell's first connection with meat refrigeration was when,
early in 1877, he took up the Glasgow agency of the dressed
beef shipping business from New York established by Mr. T. C.
Eastman. To Mr. Eastman, by the way, must be given the
credit of having first introduced chilled meat into Great Britain
(vide a personal note below). The refrigerating process

THE W(WK 01 THE PIONEERS IT*

then used consisted in allotting 25 per cent, of the whole
of the space occupied to an ice-container and filling the
latter with blocks of natural ice, circulating through the ice a
current of air by means of a fan. A modification, or rather
elaboration, of this plan was patented by a Dr. Craven, and
adopted for cooling the shipments of a Mr. Gillette, who sent
meat across the Atlantic by some other lines of steamships.
Dr. Craven's method consisted in using ice and salt, by means
of which a lower temperature could be obtained than by ice
alone, and this freezing mixture was used to cool brine cir-
culated in pipes in the vessels' holds.

Seeing the costly nature of iced transport, in which a quarter
of the space paid for was not available for the meat cargo, to
say nothing of the boats sometimes arriving with all their ice
melted, Mr. Henry Bell and his brother James (now Sir James)
Bell set themselves to study all the available literature on
mechanical refrigeration, and decided in their own minds that
refrigeration by means of cold dry air was the method most
suitable for use on board ship. They approached Sir William
Thomson (afterwards Lord Kelvin), who was then a professor
at Glasgow University, and asked his advice as to whether it
was practicable to use that method for the transport of meat.
The professor said he thought it was, but that it would prove
too costly, promising, however, to look into the subject if
they would supply him with data as to the quantities to be
carried. When he found that the figures were large, he agreed
that there was a future in the business, but he added that he
was too busy to take it up. This incident probably indicates
how near Lord Kelvin's name was to becoming a household
word in commercial refrigeration. The Glasgow professor
said, further, that he would introduce the brothers Bell to a
Mr. J. J. Coleman, and with the latter gentleman Messrs. Bell
formed a partnership under the name of the Bell-Coleman
Mechanical Refrigeration Co., and took out patents in 1877,
the first being dated June of that year.

The first ship on which Messrs. Bell and Coleman fitted their
machine was the s.s. Circassia, of the Anchor Lane, in the
American trade, in the spring of 1879, but in order to su

26 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

the world that they could bring meat across the ocean they
fitted up in the engineering works of Messrs. D. and W. Hender-
son and Co., of Glasgow, a space similar to the 'tween decks of
an ordinary steamer, and therein put meat and kept it chilled
for ninety days, subsequently bringing it up to Smithfield
market and selling it there. That consignment was kept at
a temperature of 30° F. ; the cattle were slaughtered close to
the chilling chamber, and the meat was not moved after it
was put into the chamber, never being actually frozen. All
through 1878 and 1879 the inventors were receiving meat
from the United States on Mr. Eastman's account, cooled by
freezing mixture.

Queen Victoria's Approval,

Although it is only an incident, it is worth mentioning here
that as early as 1875 American chilled beef met with Royal
approval. The following information received from Mr. F.
Link, of the Central Markets, forms an interesting and a Royal
reminiscence : —

" Mr. T. C. Eastman was the shipper, from New York in
October, 1875, of the first lot of American chilled beef, and to
him must be given the credit and honour of this innovation,
undertaken at considerable risk and expense to himself. A
baron of that beef was sent to Queen Victoria at Windsor
Castle, and Eastmans, Ltd., have the Royal Seal in connection
with that transaction. The Queen pronounced the meat ' very
good.' The shippers of this early American chilled beef
included Toffee Brothers, Gillette (Jersey City), Martin Fuller
(Philadelphia), and Sherman (Philadelphia), and Mr. J. D.
Link acted as agent for Mr. Eastman up to the time when
Messrs. John Bell and Sons took over the agency."

Charles Tellier.

Having recounted the early efforts of Mort and Harrison in
Australia, one is tempted to proceed at once to a description
of the first frozen meat shipment successfully finding its way
from those shores to the Mother Country. It must not be
forgotten, however, that refrigerating experiments were being

I

i

5

THE WOHK <>F THE PIONEERS 27

carried on elsewhere, and it is well to review the part played
by such a scientist and engineer as the Frenchman, Charles
Tellier, who was responsible for a shipment of meat brought
at a chilling temperature from Buenos Aires to Rouen as early
as 1877, this being in fact the first meat cargo shipped through
the tropics under refrigeration. Tellier was the inventor
of an ammonia-absorption refrigerating machine as early as
1859, and in 1867 he produced an ammonia-compression
refrigerating plant. M. Tellier's first essay at shipping meat
under refrigeration was in 1868. Financially supported by
Mr. Francisco Lecocq, of Monte Video, he put an ammonia
compression machine into the City of Rio de Janeiro. He
shipped 300 kilos of beef from London to that city as a test,
the intention being on the homeward journey to import meat
from Uruguay into France. But twenty-three days out an
irreparable accident occurred to the apparatus, and the meat was
eaten on board. The temperature was 32° F. Next we come
to the Frigorifique, a slow steamer, previously named the Eboe,
210 feet in length, and with a meat hold 85 feet long, 25 feet
wide, and 13 feet high. This was bought in Liverpool in 1875
for 210,000 francs (£8,400) by a company formed in France to
import fresh meat from La Plata, Texas, or Madagascar.
Three of Tellier's refrigerating engines were installed at the
stern, and all the room forward of the engines was given up to
cooled space for meat. The insulating material was powdered
cork and chaff. The vessel sailed from Rouen on September 19,
1876, and arrived at Buenos Aires on December 25, carrying
some meat from France. " Dark spots " were reported on
some of this meat when inspected by the deputy president of
the Argentine Rural Society, who also said that " at table they
gave us small dishes prepared from the meat, the flavour of
the most part of it was rather unpleasant." (Turf, brought
as ballast, was the alleged cause of this.) After considerable
difficulty in " assembling " a return cargo of meat, the
ship Frigorifique sailed for Rouen, where she arrived on
August 14, 1877, after a voyage of 104 days : some of
the meat when landed there had been preserved for 110 days.
Le Rappel de Paris of December 2, 1877, stated that a

28 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

certain portion of the meat did not arrive in good con-
dition, and a " rather careful selection had to be made."
But, it adds, " the problem was solved." No particulars are
to hand as to the realization of the cargo, but the French people
were indifferent, and even in those early days it was in England
where there were the best chances of exploiting Tellier's
process, for it seems that one of Mr. Tallerman's companies,
the London Meat Importation and Storage Co., arranged to
buy the Frigorifique and send her out again to South America.
The negotiations, however, fell through, and the vessel experi-
enced many vicissitudes, almost knocking down one of the Seine
bridges on one occasion, and being put up for sale in May, 1879.
A Mr. Robert MacAndrew was introduced to the Frigorifique
company to finance it. Actually ten tons of the desiccated
beef brought over by the ship reached London. " Not an atom
of mould was on it," Mr. Tallerman says, and he adds : " the
meat was like leather, and had lost 30 per cent, of weight,
which was regained in cooking ! " This loss of weight may seem
incredible. But in Harrap and Douglas's " Public Abattoirs
and Cattle Markets " it is stated that a piece of beef 116 ounces
in weight lost 50 ounces in 67 days (43 per cent.) by "air
cooling." M. Tellier patented his process in all the countries of
Europe, and in Victoria, Australia, from 1874 to 1878.

The Shipment by the Paraguay in 1877.

Although the shipment by no means marked the start of the
refrigerated meat export trade from South America, the suc-
cessful carriage of a cargo of frozen meat on the s.s. Paraguay
from Buenos Aires to Havre in 1877 must be chronicled
as actually the first entirely successful frozen meat shipment
in the world's history. About 1860 an ammonia-compression
machine called the " engine Carre " was constructed, an inven-
tion with which M. Charles Tellier was in some way associated.
M. Carre's name must stand out as that of the pioneer in Europe
of the frozen meat trade ; for Tellier never brought his meat below
freezing point, and the Argentine meat brought by the Frigori-
fique was a thing apart — nothing has ever since been seen like

THE WORK OF THE PIONEERS i>«)

it. Records of the solitary attempt made by the "Society
Jullien Company for the transport and preservation of fresh
meat by means of cold (Carre-.! ullirn system), Boulevard
National, 386, Marseilles," are fairly clear. Messrs. Jullien
were shipowners, running vessels engaged in the Mediterranean
fish trade. They fitted a Carre ammonia machine in the
s.s. Paraguay, 1,120 tons. Captain Lefevre was in charge,
the engineer was M. Lescornet, and the refrigerator was
constructed by Messrs. Hanthonille, of Marseilles, from
M. Carre's designs. The engineers were so determined to make
a new departure and congeal their meat that they kept the
temperature during the homeward passage at about —17° F. !
The chronicler says the meat was " petrified, as hard as a stone."
Extraordinary precautions were taken with some meat sent
out from France, as a test. The Argentine Vice-Consul at
Marseilles sealed up the refrigeration chamber and the four
quarters of beef and ten sheep therein. The vessel sailed on
August 13, 1877, and arrived at Buenos Aires on September 29.
The Paraguay commenced to take in her meat from San
Nicolas for freezing on board on October 7, and she did not
arrive at Havre till about May 7, 1878, owing to having been
compelled to put into St. Vincent for repairs after a collision.
There she stayed four months, yet she arrived at the French
port with the meat in tip-top condition — a marvellous
performance for 1878 ! Her cargo consisted of 5,500 carcasses
of mutton. The reporter at Havre was enthusiastic. " The
congealing completely destroys the germ of putrefaction," he
wrote, and the good people at Havre received the consignment
with joy. The 80 tons were " used to the last morsel." The
garrison troops feasted on it and, mirabile dictu, the Grand
Hotel in Paris used the meat for a whole week. As the French
were so ready to welcome frozen meat, and partook of it so
freely, one concludes that the regulations now built up against
its import must be artificial or engineered. The Jullien Co.
prepared the Paraguay for a second essay on a grander scale
(800 tons of meat), but, as Dr. Pierre Berges has recorded,
" as it happened, the project was never realized, and this new
industry of the freezing of meat was abandoned by the French."

30 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

Dr. Berges says, a little bitterly, in another place : "As has
often happened in the history of industries, it has been the
French who have made the discoveries, and the English who
have turned them to account to their profit. The refrigerating
industry belongs to this number." A parcel of this meat was
sent to London. Messrs. John Schmidt and Co., 69, Mark Lane,
E.G., were the consignees, and the mutton was reported to be
of " extraordinarily good flavour, but very small." Messrs.
Jullien wished to build a fleet of steamers, 2,000 tons each, to
convey to France Argentine frozen meat and remounts for the
army. Had the French capitalists come forward, the whole
course of the commercial genesis of the meat trade would have
been altered.

The StrathleVen.

The Strathleven shipment was the outcome of an inquiry
instituted early in 1878 by Queensland squatters, who, having
heard of the Paraguay voyage from South America to Havre,
cabled to London, and Mr. Andrew Mcllwraith and Mr. Beard-
more Buchanan went to Havre to inspect the steamer. They
reported adversely to the application to the Australian trade
of the refrigeration system employed, and shortly afterwards
Mr. Mcllwraith got into touch with Messrs. Bell and Coleman in
Glasgow. Experiments were made with dry air at 30° F.,
which resulted in the conviction that Mr. Mort's freezing
theories were correct. Negotiations were opened with Messrs.
Bell and Coleman for a machine designed and arranged for ship-
board, and Mr. Andrew Mcllwraith chartered the s.s. Strath-
leven (gross tonnage 2,436) from Messrs. Burrell and Son, and
installed the Bell-Coleman machine on board. The vessel
sailed from Plymouth in 1879 under the control of Mr. James
Campbell, a civil engineer, and Mr. Matthew Taylor Brown,
B.Sc., went out as representative of the Bell-Coleman Co.,
and returned with the vessel on its epoch-making voyage. The
captain was Mr. C. W. Pearson. Mr. (afterwards Sir) Thomas
Mcllwraith, Mr. B. D. Morehead, and Messrs. William and
Robert Collins were amongst the Queensland gentlemen who
took a leading part in helping forward the movement, and

MK. AXhHKW M. II.WHAITH.

To face ji. SO.

THE WORK OF THE PIONEERS 31

Mr. Hastings Cuningham and Mr. George Fairbairn in Victoria
rendered assistance, but Mr. Mcll wraith's firm, Mcll wraith,
McEacharn and Co., bore the risk of the venture.

The late Sir Malcolm McEacharn left London for Sydney to
make all arrangements there for the Strathleven'a loading.
The vessel sailed thence on November 29, 1879; Melbourne
was made a second port of call, and the vessel left that port
on December 6, 1879, for London, where she arrived on
February 2, 1880, with 40 tons of beef and mutton. The
meat had been frozen on board. One of the first persons to
inspect the new commodity, destined to revolutionize the
world's meat trade, was the produce representative of the New
Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Co., and it was recorded
in the market report of that company that " On inspection
of the meat while the vessel lay in dock, it was found to
be in a perfectly sound state, frozen quite hard and covered
with an artificial rime." The representative was, however,
doubtful about several things, including the possible early
decomposition upon thawing, deficient flavour, and partial
destruction of the natural juices. But, on the whole,
he took a sanguine view, and his comments form the pioneer
report upon a trade which has attracted the most exhaustive
attention from commercial writers. The meat, which had cost
from l^d. to 2d. per Ib. in Australia, was placed in the hands of
Mr. J. D. Link, of Smithfield Market, and realized 4$d. to 5\d.
per Ib. for the beef and 5%d. to Qd. per Ib. for the mutton. A
lunch to celebrate the success of the venture took place on
the Strathleven on February 6, 1880. Messrs. Andrew and
Thomas Mcllwraith, Sir R. R. Torrens, Colonel Taylor, Messrs.
W. Westgarth, W. Jordan, and E. Alford Wallace, amongst
others, were present. A carcass of lamb was sent to Queen
Victoria and a sheep to the Prince of Wales. A joint was
given to the Travellers' Club, and the late Lord Hatherton
happened to be lunching at the Club when the said joint was
brought to table. He found it so good that he asked for
another helping, and was surprised when he learned that
the meat which he had enjoyed so much represented a hidden
attack on his, or, rather, his tenants', industry.

32 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

The newspapers and the trade gave a most friendly reception
to this pioneer shipment of frozen meat ; the Times, the Daily
Telegraph, the Morning Advertiser, the Mark Lane Express, the
Globe, etc., were enthusiastic. The Daily Telegraph, in referring
to the meat, wrote : "It has been tested by the ordinary
methods of cooking, and found to be in such good condition
that neither by its appearance in the butchers' shops, nor by
any peculiarity of flavour when cooked for the table, could it
be distinguished from freshly killed English meat." The
following interesting credential emanated from the London
Central Markets :

This is to certify that we, the undersigned meat salesmen, doing business
at the Central Meat Market, London, inspected the meat imported from
Australia ex Strathhven. We found it in perfectly sound marketable con-
dition, and it readily fetched prices averaging b^d. per Ib. Both beef and
mutton were excellent in quality, for those of us who tasted the meat when
cooked pronounced it tender, and its flavour very good. From the success
which has attended this shipment, we are of opinion that similar supplies
from Australia will find a large and ready sale in this market.

(Signed) J. D. Tank. Wm. Bowyer.

Hannah Ward and Co. Archer and Malthouse.

Charles Mathew and Son. H. S. Fitter.

B. W. Frost and Co. H. Killby and Sons.

B. Venables and Sons. H. Hicks and Son.

The Strathleven, after its historic voyage, was stripped of
its refrigerating machinery and insulation, and was sold by
Messrs. Burrell and Son in 1899 to Messrs. Abram and Addie,
of Glasgow, who kept her running in the American trade.
In January, 1901, she was lost in the Atlantic during a
heavy gale while on passage from the Gulf of Mexico to the
Mediterranean.

The Australian Frozen Meat Export Company.

It was felt by the leading pastoralists of the Riverina district
of New South Wales and of Victoria that this highly successful
opening of the new trade should be followed up in a business
way. Both the squatters and the mercantile community
entered enthusiastically into the consideration of how to
proceed in the most practical manner to exploit this industry.
Meetings were held in Melbourne at the end of 1879 and in 1880

THE WORK OF THE PIONEERS :i:J

at Scotts' Hotel, and Sir James MoCulloch, Sir Samuel Wilson,
and Messrs. George Fairbairn, J. H. Douglas, J. L. Currie,
Lloyd Jones, James Blackwood (Dalgety, Blackwood and Co.),
Hastings Cuningham, and C. M. Officer, were prominent
amongst the gentlemen who supported the movement. The
Australian Frozen Meat Export Co., Ltd., was formed with a
subscribed capital of £loo,ii(io. m £100 shares, and some £80,000
was spout in developing the trade. The rrentlemen above
named were the directors of the company, Sir James McCulloch
being Chairman — all these gentlemen have passed away. Mr.
F. W. Armytage joined the board later. Mr. John Hotson was
appointed secretary and manager.

At that time there were neither freezing works nor fitted
steamers, but during the early months of 1880 temporary works
were put up at Maribyrnong, and subsequently substantial
freezing and storing works were erected at Newport, near
Melbourne. Then the company chartered the s.s. Protos, and
fitted up the vessel with refrigerating machinery ; the insulation
of the chamber consisted of nine inches of wool. Refrigerating
machines were manufactured in Melbourne by Messrs. Robison
Brothers, engineers. The machine was a duplicate of the
Giffard refrigerator which the company had imported. Toward
the end of 1880 the Protos was loaded and despatched to
London with about 4,600 sheep and lamb carcasses, and 100 tons
of butter, all of which produce was landed in London in excellent
condition on January 17th, 1881, at a moment when the city
was cut off from supplies owing to heavy snowstorms. The
meat sold from 5\d. to Id. per lb., and the butter fetched
Is. 3d. per lb. These prices, of course, represented a sub-
stantial profit. After the success of the Protos shipment,
Mr. Thomas Brydone, of New Zealand, visited the Melbourne
works, and no doubt the information gathered by him there was
of great help in preparing the Dunedin shipment — to be referred
to later on in this chapter. Another steamer was chartered and
fitted in Melbourne, the ss. Europa, the insulation being char-
coal— the Protos wool insulation had been unfitted in London
and sold in good condition. A larger and more powerful
refrigerator was made for the Europa by Robison Brothers.

K.M. D

34 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

Some 9,000 carcasses of mutton and Iamb, and some quantity
of butter, were despatched to London, where this shipment also
was landed in excellentcondition. The prices realized were about
3%d. per Ib. for the meat, and Is. Id. per Ib. for the butter.

After these ventures it occurred to the directors of the
company that one of the regular lines of steamers trading from
Australia to London should take up the trade. The Orient
Line was approached in 1881, and readily entered into the
suggestion. The s.s. Cuzco and two other steamers of the line
were fitted up by the Orient Co. with Haslam machines. The
Cuzco was the first vessel to sail with meat ; she took 4,000
frozen carcasses, the freight paid at that time was 2^d. per Ib.
The Orient and Garonne followed. Difficulties were many at
this stage of development, and the Australian Frozen Meat
Export Co. had to struggle with low prices for their produce as
well as high rates of freight, and soon the capital of the company
was seriously reduced. Drought set in, and exports from
Melbourne had to be suspended for a time.

The company was wound up in 1886. In 1887 the Newport
freezing works were purchased by the Victorian Government,
which used them in connection with the starting of the export
butter business. In 1893 the firm of John Hotson and Co.
leased the Newport works from the Government for a period
of years, and in 1896 the works passed into the hands of the
present owners, Messrs. John Cooke and Co., who in 1899
reorganized and reconstructed them with new plant. On a
calm survey of the events just chronicled, it is clear that the
enterprise of the directors and shareholders of the Australian
Frozen Meat Export Co. at Melbourne, coming just after the
inauguration of the frozen meat trade by the Strathleven ship-
ment, was very helpful in giving the industry a good start.

Queensland's First Freezing Enterprise.
The first freezing enterprise in Queensland was that of the
Central Queensland Meat Export Co. at Lake's Creek, near
Rockhampton. This company had its origin in a boiling-down
works at Laurel Bank, on the Fitzroy River, opened in 1868 by
Messrs. Berkelman and Lambert. Messrs. Whitehead and Co.

THE WORK OF THE PIONEERS 85

subsequently acquired the factory. The Lake's Creek works
were started in 1871 by the Central Queensland Meat
Export Co. This company had but a few years of pre-
carious existence. Difficulties occurred as time went on ;
cattle became scarce and dear, and in 1874 the works were
closed. The preserving works had absorbed the surplus cattle
and raised the stock in the district to prohibitive prices. The
works remained closed until 1877, at which date Whitehead
and Co. purchased the property from the liquidators, and trans-
ferred the plant at the Laurel Bank factory to the Lake's Creek
works. About 1880 No. 2 Central Queensland Meat Export
Co. was formed, with Mr. Bertram as manager, and about 1883
the company added a freezing plant to its establishment.
The freezing chambers were full of meat ready for shipment in
September, 1883, by the s.s. Fiado. The vessel was a fortnight
late in arrival, and on September 13 what would have been
Queensland's pioneer enterprise in the shipment of frozen meat
was wrecked by a disastrous fire at the works, which caused a
loss of £30,000. (It is curious that in 1884 another of Nature's
wrecking forces, a hurricane, frustrated the Poole Island
pioneers in their initial effort to ship frozen meat by the same
vessel : see p. 36.) Not until August, 1884, did the works restart.
In 1885 the company went into liquidation, and in 1886 the
property was purchased by a Melbourne syndicate, including
in its members Messrs. Andrew Rowan, George Fairbairn, and
John Living. Mr. M. C. Thomson was managing director of
the new company formed, which retained the former style, and
Mr. Bertram was general manager until 1890, when he was
succeeded by Mr. Alexander Paterson. Mr. Paterson held
office for nine years, and during his period of management
excellent results were obtained from the works. Mr. W. S.
Lambe (who has of late years been associated with the manage-
ment of South American frigorificos) in 1899 became works
manager. An average of the annual outturn of the Lake's
Creek works for five years struck at this stage of the company's
history showed 50,000 cattle treated and 273,000 sheep ; meat
frozen 11,966,000 Ibs., and meat preserved 7,750,000 Ibs. In
1901 the company and business were taken over by a syndicate

D2

36 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

of London capitalists, including Sir Montague Nelson, Mr.
George Mackenzie, and Mr. James Caird. The Central Queens-
land Meat Export Co. was registered in London, where the office
is at 14, Dowgate Hill, E.C. Mr. G. H. Hopper was installed
as the general manager at Lake's Creek, a position he still holds.
The property is one of the largest meat preserving and freezing
establishments in Australia, possessing modern machinery and
plant. The land held by the company is about 30,000 acres,
of which 18,000 are freehold. When the works are in full
operation 700 to 1,000 hands are employed. Quite a small
town is built round the factory for the employees ; a dining
hall to seat 200 men, a mission hall, school, school of arts,
rowing, cricket, and football clubs, are amongst the social
features of the Lake's Creek meat works.

Absolutely the first shipment of frozen meat actually
despatched from Queensland left Moreton Bay, Brisbane, on
May 20, 1884. Concerning this shipment, the Brisbane Courier
of May 21, 1884, said : " The British India Co.'s steamer
Dorunda, with the first shipment of frozen meat for London
from this colony, left the Bay yesterday afternoon. The
frozen cargo consisted of 3,594 sheep and 100 quarters of
beef, and the shipment may be attributed to the enterprise
of the Queensland Freezing and Food Export Co. The cattle
were the property of Mr. Collins, one of the earliest and most
consistent of the supporters of the meat export trade. The
shipment was not a success, but the company afterwards
demonstrated the vessel's capacity for carrying meat."

Foole Island.

An early and gallant attempt to follow up the success
achieved by the Strathleven with its epoch-making shipment
was made in Queensland in 1881, when the Australian Co., Ltd.,
was registered in London on April 29 of that year. Mr. Robert
Christison, owner of large flocks and herds on his Lammermoor
and other stations in North Queensland, conceived the idea of
establishing meat freezing works in that part of Australia and
of forming a London company to work the enterprise. At that
time there was no market in the North of Queensland to speak

I 111 \\oKK OF THE PIONEERS 87

of for fat cattle. There was just the boiling-down works and
nothing more. Mr. Christison went to London, and was
successful in meeting with some leading City men. The
Australian Co., Ltd., was formed in London, Sir Richmond
Cotton, M.P., afterwards Lord Mayor of London (then the
senior partner in the well-known London firm of produce
l>n>kors, Culverwell, Brooks and Cotton), becoming chair-
man. The other directors of this concern, the first purely
frozen meat company formed in England, were Messrs. B. T.
Bosanquet, R. Campbell, jun., J. Jackson, Samson Lloyd,
Laidley Mort, T. Salt, and A. Van de Velde, the secretary
being Mr. R. M. Stephenson. The subscribed capital was
£61,613.

Before referring to Poole Island and what happened there,
it may be mentioned that the Australian Co. was wound up in
1888, but prior to that stage its consignment business was
passed over to the New Zealand and Colonial Consignment Co.,
Ltd., which was registered in London in November, 1885, with
a capital of £50,000, the directors comprising Messrs. R. M.
Stephenson (managing director), G. M. Mackenzie, B. T.
Bosanquet, and A. Van de Velde. This company ran a shop
at Hounslow as a part of its operations. As Messrs. Nelson
Brothers, Ltd., were desirous of receiving consignments, they
purchased the goodwill and business of the New Zealand and
Colonial Consignment Co. from June, 1886, and took over
Mr. Stephenson, giving him the appointment of country
manager.
The Australian Company, Ltd., was granted a lease by the

nsland Government of Poole Island, near Bo wen, North
(,>inM-nsland, and the works — the second freezing establishment
erected in Australia — were put up. Bowen has a fine natural
harbour, and Messrs. Moulder's steamers now take delivery
of the frozen meat shipped thence by the Merinda works
of Bergl, Australia, Ltd. After many delays the factories
were completed. A stumbling block to the company's progress
was that the underwriters would not entertain a policy on its

i meat shipments to London, no matter how high the
premium offered ; nevertheless in 1884 the first cargo of meat

38 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

from the works was put on board the s.s. Fiado, which was
fitted with Bell-Coleman refrigerating machinery. The vessel
was bound for Batavia, and a remunerative price for the meat
was anticipated. Here, unfortunately, has to be recorded a
very aggravated instance of the ill-luck which so often dogs
the footsteps of pioneers and wrecks their enterprises. On
January 30, 1884, just as the Fiado was ready to sail, occurred
one of the terrible cyclones that occasionally visit the North
Queensland coasts. When the storm abated, it was found that
the Fiado lay high and dry on the mainland. The company
lost heavily, and after mature consideration it was decided to
wind up affairs. Ultimately the buildings and effects were
sold to the British India Steam Navigation Co., which
concern, employing steamers of their own, and those of the
Ducal Line, owned and managed by Messrs. J. B. Westray
and Co., began in 1885 the lifting of the meat from the Poole
Island works. The first shipment of 1,000 tons was made by
the s.s. Duke of Westminster in the year named, running
on the British India-Queensland mail line. In the freezing of
this meat various difficulties presented themselves, and at one
point so critical was the position that the zinc-lined piano
case of Mr. Stevens, the manager, was impounded and turned
to use as an extra condenser. One or two shipments were made
subsequently on the joint account of growers and shipowners,
but the works lacked that efficiency and perfection of detail
equipment since attained elsewhere. The new owners of the
works found the enterprise was attended with such lack of
success that in 1886 it was discontinued. It must be remem-
bered that the works had been erected on an island, the only
approach to which was at low tide, when the cattle had to cross,
sometimes up to their girths in water. Apart from this incon-
venience, the early management had to contend with the
difficulties usually experienced by pioneers, lack of trade
organization and markets, besides the prejudice against frozen
meat, which in those days was very marked. The British
India Co. still own the site and what remains of the works, but
the machinery and boilers have been sold, the latter to the
Alligator Creek Works, North Queensland.

THi: WORK OF THE PIONEERS W

New Zealand enters the Field.

It will be convenient at this point to turn to New Zealand
and consider the beginnings of the export trade from that
Colony in frozen mutton. In 1851 there were 233,043 sheep
in New Zealand, and by 1880 the flocks had grown to 1 1,530,623,
owned by 6,857 farmers.

A notable pioneer of the New Zealand meat export trade
was the New Zealand and Australian Land Co., the head-
quarters of which concern are at Edinburgh. Mr. W. S.
Davidson, who became general manager of that company in
1879, provides an exceedingly interesting and detailed account
of the circumstances in which New Zealand's pioneer frozen
shipment was made on the Dunedin. Realizing the great need
of an outlet for the large surplus of sheep, and perceiving the
possibilities of the frozen export trade already indicated by
the first attempts from Australia, Mr. Davidson investigated
the whole business, his directors agreeing that a trial shipment
from New Zealand might be arranged for on the part of
the New Zealand and Australian Land Co., at the same time
authorizing a preliminary expenditure of £1,000. In Feb-
ruary, 1880, Mr. Davidson communicated with the late Mr.
James Galbraith, a director of the Albion Shipping Co., and
with him had a first interview with Messrs. Bell and Coleman
in Glasgow. It was under Mr. Coleman's able supervision
that the sailing ship Dunedin was fitted up, his early assur-
ance to the promoters being that if the carcasses were hard
frozen they would suffer no deterioration in the long voyage
of 100 days or more in a sailing ship ; that they could be
frozen on board the ship itself without any refrigerating works
on shore to assist ; and, moreover, that with thorough insulation
of the meat chambers in the ship, and with a proper system for
the circulation of the cold air, the carcasses when frozen solid
might be stored for the voyage as closely as they could be packed
without risk of their being crushed. This was, indeed, a
marvellous piece of prescience. Careful investigation having
led Mr. Davidson to the conclusion that a Bell-Coleman
cold air compression refrigerating machine was the best to

40 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

adopt, a contract was finally concluded whereby the Albion
Shipping Co. agreed to fit up one of its best and fastest sailing
ships with insulated meat chambers, boilers, and Bell-
Coleman refrigerating machinery, the Land Co. undertaking
to find a cargo of meat (up to 7,500 sheep, if necessary)
to fill the chambers, and to pay a freight of 2^d. per lb.,
taking all the risk of the cargo arriving in a marketable
condition.

In support of this enterprise, Messrs. William Ewing and Co.,
insurance brokers, of Glasgow, were plucky enough to accept
what was a totally unknown risk by covering all contingencies
attached to the carriage of the meat at the moderate premium
of five guineas per cent. The ship Dunedin, of about 1,200
tons, commanded by Captain Whitson, was selected for the
venture, and Mr. Davidson sent his instructions to Mr. Thomas
Brydone, the Land Co.'s superintendent in New Zealand, to
erect a killing shed in which to slaughter the sheep, to secure
first-rate butchers, and in every way to prepare for the
provision of a cargo of the most attractive classes of sheep.
Under Mr. Brydone's able direction this work was carried
out, and the slaughterhouse was erected on the company's
Totara Estate. Looking back now, too much praise can
hardly be given to the extraordinary wisdom and pluck shown
by these Dunedin men. Failure in their enterprise might well
have thrown back the industry for years.

The Voyage of the Dunedin.

It was decided to freeze on board, and the work was entered
upon in a 'tween decks chamber on the Dunedin at Port
Chalmers on December 7, 1881, when Mr. Davidson and Mr.
Brydone personally stowed the first frozen sheep ever loaded
in New Zealand, the question with them being as to whether
the carcasses, after they had been frozen on board the ship,
should be placed " thwart ship " or " fore and aft " in the
chambers. All went well until December 11, when a
fracture of the engine's crank-shaft owing to a flaw in

THE WORK OF THE PIONEERS 41

the casting stopped the work and compelled the sale of the
641 sheep then in the chambers and of the 360 killed and in
transit. Thus New Zcalanders themselves were the first con-
sumers of their own frozen meat. A repair was made, and the
loading was completed on February 11, 1882, the ship sailing
on the 15th of that month, and arriving in London Docks on
May 24, after a long passage of ninety-eight days. During that
period the refrigerating machine had worked steadily ; some-
times, in cool weather, it was only run two or three hours
in the twenty-four.

The anxiety as to the fate of the meat is aptly described by
Mr. Davidson, who had then returned to London. " Captain
Whitson," he says, " came on to London ahead of his ship in
a pilot boat, looking very strained and careworn as he entered
the shipping company's office. He was not quite sure about
the condition of the cargo, but thought that most of it was
sound. The vicissitudes of his experimental voyage were
related, the captain's anxieties about the cargo having been
aggravated by his dread that his masts would be burnt, as the
sparks from the funnel set fire to the sails on several occasions.
Then, in the tropics the ship was for a long time on one tack,
and owing to its steadiness the cold air was not sufficiently
diffused amongst the carcasses, and, in fact, the temperature
in the upper chamber remained so high that the engineer was
almost in despair." At last Captain Whitson had determined
to alter the circulation of the air, which was evidently defective,
and to do this he had to crawl down the main trunk, and in the
process of cutting fresh openings for the better escape of the
cold air he became so benumbed by the frost that he was only
rescued from his perilous position by the mate crawling in
behind him and attaching a rope to his legs by which means
he was pulled out of the air trunk !

It was found at London Docks that the cargo had arrived
in a sound condition, and its sale at Smithfield was at once
arranged for, the cargo embracing 3,521 sheep and 449 lambs
belonging to the Land Co., and 939 sheep supplied by
" outsiders.*'

The results of the marketing of this pioneer shipment were

42 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

officially communicated to New Zealand, and the following is
a brief extract of the particulars then forwarded : —

" The discharging of the cargo commenced three days after
arrival, and the whole shipment was sold within a fortnight,
the meat being taken out at night and conveyed to Smithfield
market, so that the sheep were hard frozen when butchers
went to buy them in the morning. There are no auction sales
of dead meat in London, and the carcasses were sold at Smith-
field in the usual way, by placing so many in the hands of some
half-dozen salesmen who made as good prices for them as they
could. At first the salesmen were rather doubtful about the
venture being a success, especially as it was the first trial from
New Zealand, but when they saw the fine big sheep, which,
though many of them had been frozen over four months,
were as clean and bright as newly-killed mutton, they quickly
changed their opinion and pronounced the meat to be ' as
perfect as meat could be.' New Zealanders will be pleased
to learn that the shipment was mentioned even in the
House of Lords. Excepting the very fat coarse sheep weighing
over 100 Ibs. each — several weighed over 150 Ibs., and one
182 Ibs. — the mutton was quite suitable for the English market.
Out of the whole cargo only one sheep was condemned.
Including some eight or ten sheep and lambs given away,
which are entered at the average price of those sold, the
following is an exact statement of the actual results of the
shipment : —

No. Weight. Per sheep. Per Ib.

£ s. rf. d. £. s. d.

Sheep: 3,136 244,073 Ibs. sold in London 227 6v>6 6,675 9 8

373 29,415 „ „ „ Glasgow 230 6-54 801 13 6

8 477 „ „ captain 199 6 11 18 6

3 to order of manager 227 679

1 condemned

3,521

Lambs: 425 16,846 Ibs. sold in London 1 1 4 6'45 453 Oil

24 950 „ „ „ Glasgow 1 5 0 7-60 30 1 0

449 £7,978 11 4

Pigs : 22 1,164 „ 31 2 11

£8,009 14 3

TUL; \\OKK <>i rm.

< ii.M:..r..-.

Brought forward
• ' for bags ........
:ng meat frozen in Dunedin after her arrival in
.ilon
Freight on 296 477 Mm.

£
01
43

i.

H
11

e

d.
9
9

n

* «. 4.

£ -.'•"'.• n -t

mcc on £7,600

111

LI

I

scharge, telegrams, etc. .
Dock Company'* account for discharging .

p

78

«;:,

11
B

10

6

7
0

.

.ige 400 •!)> to Glasgow
Bale, commission, bank charges, etc. ....

51

289

4
:,

:<
4

i 2 4

£4.216 11 11

The net return per sheep in Port Chalmers is £1 0*. U9d. or 3-23<f. per Ib.
„ „ lamb „ „ „ „ 10*. 9d. „ 3-25<*. „

" I calculate there will be a net return of fully 9d. per sheep
in New Zealand from sale of skins and tallow, after paying cost
of killing and putting on board ship, so that the company has
netted £1 Is. 8fdL for its sheep, averaging rather under 81 Ibs.

"The loss in selling weight, as compared with shipping weight,
amounts to only a little over 1 Ib. on each carcass. The charges
between Port Chalmers and London, including insurance and
freight, amounted to 2 -73d. per Ib., and, after the ship arrived
in London, 0'41rf. per Ib. The sheep sent home would only
have netted some 11s. or 12s. per head in the Dunedin market
at the time of shipping, so that their value was about doubled.
The 939 sheep sent by other shippers sold at about the same
prices as the company's sheep, all but some very heavy ewes,
which did not fetch so much per Ib., but nevertheless brought
full value considering the quality of the meat."

Mr. Davidson states that " After the success of the Dunedin
shipment the Land Co. engaged the Marlborough, another fast
sailer belonging to the Albion Shipping Co., and these two
vessels each brought home very successfully about half a dozen
cargoes of mutton, the former ship carrying about 9,000 car-
casses and the latter about 13,000. Tragedy, however,
awaited them, as, while still carrying frozen meat for the Land
Co., both vessels left New Zealand within six weeks of one
another, and neither was ever heard of again, the supposition

44 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

being that they ran on icebergs off the Horn, these being very
numerous about that time."

Mr, Brydone's Forecast.

Mr. Brydone took the deepest interest in the trade, for the
successful inauguration of which he was largely responsible.
In 1881 he read a paper at the annual meeting of the Otago
Agricultural and Pastoral Association, giving an account of
his investigations in Australia and elsewhere. His faith never
wavered, for even as late as 1892, when many people in New
Zealand thought that the export then reached of 2,000,000
carcasses was about the " top notch," he stated : " I should
say there is every prospect of New Zealand being able to export
4,000,000 sheep ten years hence as easily as we do 2,000,000
now." Mr. Brydone's forecast was correct !

Canterbury and Otago erected a building in the Agricultural
Hall, Christchurch, to his memory, called the Brydone Hall,
and the farmers of the Oamaru district have erected a hand-
some memorial cairn on the Totara Estate, where the first
sheep for the frozen meat trade were killed and prepared for
export in the ship Dunedin. In reviewing the circumstances
that led up to the successful pioneer shipment from New Zea-
land, one can have no doubt of the important part played by
Thomas Brydone. It is clear that he had grasped some of the
possibilities of the new trade and what they promised for the
sheep farmer of New Zealand. Deservedly may he take front
rank amongst the pioneers.

Supplementing Mr. Davidson's statement as to the outturn of
the meat ex Dunedin, the market circular of the National
Mortgage and Agency Co. of New Zealand, dated June 2, 1882,
declared the shipment to have arrived in first-class condition.
The carcasses were pronounced excellent in quality, exception,
however, being taken to the very fat and heavy sheep. The
consignment, it was stated, was selling at prices ranging from
fyd. to §\d. per lb., lambs at 6%d. to l\d. per lb., and it was
added that the experiment was considered a great success.
The other consignors of meat by the Dunedin referred to

THOM.\> lii;\ MUSK.

To faff p. 44.

\
THE WORK OF THE PIONEERS r,

above were Messrs. James Elder (Maheno), .1. II. Smith
(Invercargill), Murray, Roberts and Co., and James Shand.

The Times had a leading article on the shipment, and called
the venture a " prodigious fact," which it indeed was. The
English butcher, with the fine New Zealand wether sheep
before him, equal in quality to home-bred mutton, realized that
a new era was opened up in the retail meat trade. He was
well justified in his realization, for since May, 1882, some
78,000,000 New Zealand frozen carcasses have been handled
by retailers in Great Britain, much to their profit, and more
to the well-being of the British public who have consumed
them.

CHAPTER III

THE FREEZING WORKS OF AUSTRALIA

THE development of freezing in Australia has not been on
such an extensive scale nor so continuous as in New Zealand.
This has been partly due to the periodic droughts from which
Australia has suffered and the distances separating the sheep-
breeding districts from the shipping ports. Moreover, in New
Zealand the freezing industry arrived in the nick of time to
place farming in that country on a paying basis, and the
Colony found it absolutely necessary to follow it up with
regularity. On the other hand, Australia's merino wool
production — one of the grandest industries in the world —
except in periods of depressed prices for the golden fleece,
has always put the freezing of sheep into a secondary
position : only the surplus sheep have been exported.
Again, in New Zealand freezing has proved fairly profitable,
and the business has been organized on systematic lines,
while in Australia the freezing works as a whole have gone
through many vicissitudes. Large schemes were propounded
for covering portions of the continent with meat-freezing
works, but before these schemes could be properly carried
out the 1895 — 1903 drought intervened and prevented the
proper development of the enterprises.

In a considerable number of the Australian works, especially
those in New South Wales, stock are killed at various
centres and then either railed or carted to the freezing works.
After being frozen, the carcasses are again either railed or
carted to the steamer, in most instances in insulated vans.
The best works, however, are conducted on the same principle

III1 1 1(1 1 XING WORKS OF AUSTRALIA 47

as in Now Zealand and the Argentine Republic, the animals
being slaughtered alongside the freezing chambers.

Queensland.

In the State of Queensland, where the general freezing
scheme has been well designed, there have been big fluctuations
in meat exports, as the few following figures will show : —

-

Cattle In the SUte.

Frozen Beef Exports to
the United Kingdom.

Cwt*.

1893

6,693/200

207,000

1899

5,053,836

513,000

1903 .

2,481,717

77,000

1910 .

5,131,699

800,000

Most of the meat works are situated at the point of
shipment.

Central Queensland Meat Export Co. — The first freezing
enterprise in Queensland was that of the Central Queensland
Meat Export Co. at Lake's Creek, near Rockhampton. As a
meat works Lake's Creek was opened in 1871, and a freezing
plant was added in 1883 (see p. 34 for a sketch of the early
history of this concern).

Queensland Meat Export and Agency Co. — The Queens-
land Meat Export and Agency Co., with works at Eagle Farm,
on the Brisbane River, and at Ross Creek, Townsville, was
formed in 1890. Sir Thomas Mcll wraith was a prime mover in
floating the company with £1,000,000 capital, and Mr. John
Cooke, who had newly come from New Zealand, assisted in
its establishment. Of this nominal capital less than £100,000
was subscribed. Messrs. W. Weddel and Co. were appointed
agents in London, and a five years' freight contract was made
with Moulder Brothers and Co. for the conveyance of 1,200 tons
of meat per month at }\\d. per Ib. for mutton and \d. per Ib.
for beef. The Queensland Meat Export Co., which was formed

48 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

to give graziers a market in the Old World for their surplus
cattle, has had a varied career, bad luck attending the
early shipments of beef, which suffered terribly from " bone
taint." The quality of the cattle handled was excellent, and
after the fault referred to had been overcome Queensland
beef met a good demand at Smithfield. But shipments soon
overtaxed the English market, and prices fell so low that the
Continent of Europe was tried as a market as an addition to
the marts of Great Britain ; in some cases the Queensland
squatters not only drew no cash for their consignments, but
had to pay a reclamation charge. Then came the drought,
with the consequent gradual reduction of shipments. The
company, supported in the first place by squatters' consign-
ments, had to buy on its own account, and of late years
has depended for its business on shipments of frozen and
preserved meats on its own account to British and Eastern
markets. Mr. C. Ross is the manager of the Brisbane works,
and Mr. Robert Stewart is in charge of the Ross Creek
works. A controlling holding in the company was purchased
some little time ago by Messrs. G. S. Yuill and Co. (now
Yuills, Ltd.), whose London office is at 120, Fenchurch Street,
E.G. The Queensland Meat Co.'s works form a good example of
sound engineering equipment, and the refitting of the Townsville
works, recently undertaken, brings them into line with the most
up-to-date freezing works in existence in either hemisphere. The
works now have the most modern machinery and appliances
for handling produce, etc., that can possibly be procured,
the original freezing machinery and other plant being
discarded, and new freezing and electric plant being erected
in its place. The whole of the new steam engines, both for
freezing and electric service, are triple expansion with a
superheated steam supply at 220 Ibs. pressure, supplied by
mechanically fired boilers, and the entire coal supply is worked
by the latest coal-handling machinery. The whole of the
freezing rooms, stores, etc., have been piped with direct expan-
sion coils, in lieu of the air circulating batteries which were
formerly in use. When these works were designed about
twenty years ago, the old dry air system was installed but

THE FREEZING WORKS OF AUSTRALIA 49

a few years later the machines were replaced by ammonia
compression plant, and the freezing rooms were operated by
air circulating batteries. About two years ago it was decided
to fit half of the total freezing capacity with direct expansion
piping, and this, after working for a season, gave such
excellent results and so thoroughly satisfied the directors of
the company that they decided to pipe the remainder of the
freezing block at large expenditure. In Townsville coal is
expensive, the water supply limited, and drainage difficult ;
nevertheless, the improvements now made render the works
second to none for economy and convenience in working.

Gladstone Meat Works. — The Gladstone Meat Works of
Queensland had its inception in 1893, when a meeting was
called by Messrs. J. H. Geddes and Co. to consider the question
of establishing freezing works at Gladstone. The company
was formed in 1894, and shipments began in 1896. Mr. W. B.
Shaw was the prime mover in the formation of this company.
The works can treat 150 bullocks and 2,000 sheep a day. The
freezing chambers are substantially boilt of cemented brickwork,
and the risk of fire is minimized by the use of pumice insulation.
The refrigerating power is supplied by one of Haslam's 80- ton
compound ammonia machines and one 100-ton compound
Limit' ammonia machine. The slaughterhouse is provided
with hydraulic plant for handling the carcasses during dressing.
The company has its own pier, at which ocean-going vessels
berth. Mr. N. W. Kingdon is the manager.

Meat Works at Bowen. — The Merinda Meat Works, near
Bowen, were established in 1895, Bergl, Australia, Ltd., being
the proprietors, and Mr. Frank H. Houlder and Captain
Thomas Hutton (Australia) its directors. The original con-
cern, taken over by the Bergl Co., was the Bowen Meat Export
and Agency Co. The works are a few miles up the railway, and
the meat is trucked to the Bowen jetty and put on board the
Houlder liners. The Merinda works have been kept thoroughly
up-to-date, and many additions and improvements have been
made, including the establishment of a canning plant. The
works can treat 150 head of cattle for freezing and 50 head for
canning daily, with a storage capacity of 1,500 tons.

F.M. •

50 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

Birt and Co.'s Works. — The important interests held in
Australia in the way of freezing works by Messrs. Birt and Co.,
Ltd., Sydney — represented in London by Messrs. Birt, Potter
and Hughes, Ltd. — may be set forth as follow. In 1895
Messrs. Birt and Co. leased the Government meat markets at
Sydney, and later in the same year they also leased the
Musgrave Wharf, Brisbane, and built freezing works on the
property adjoining. From that time onwards they became one
of the largest exporters of frozen meat from Australia. The
Sydney works can deal with 3,500 carcasses of mutton per
day, and have a storage capacity of about 40,000 carcasses.
The Musgrave Wharf works can deal with about 120 head of
cattle per day, and have storage for about 700 to 800 tons.
In 1901 Messrs. Birt and Co. built their own killing and freezing
works at Mooraree, eight miles from Brisbane (now called
Murarrie), and at these works there is plant to kill and freeze
150 head of cattle and 600 sheep per day, with storage for
1,030 tons. Mr. E. Owen Cox is managing director for Australia.

Redbank and the Burdekin River Meat Works. — Reference
has now been made to the Queensland beef freezing works
possessing historic interest. Turning to modern times, Messrs.
John Cooke and Co. erected the Redbank works on the upper
Brisbane river, one of the largest in the State, in 1902. Two
large Hercules machines are installed at the Redbank works,
which until lately were under the charge of Mr. J. H.
McConnell. The daily freezing capacity of the works is 1,500
sheep and 300 cattle ; storage capacity, 100,000 carcasses.
During the South African war Mr. Cooke supplied about
90 per cent, of the Australian meat issued to the British
troops. As beef was largely called for in that connection,
Mr. Cooke erected the Redbank freezing works, and with
the aid of the Burdekin Meat Works Co., situated on the
Burdekin river, North Queensland, in which he had a large
shareholding interest, supplemented by the annual output
of the Gladstone freezing works, which he regularly acquired,
a large export trade to Africa, the Philippines, Siberia, Japan,
Mediterranean ports, and the United Kingdom was built
up, the only drawback being the long-continued scarcity of

8

*,

I

THE FREEZING WORKS OF AUSTRALIA 51

supplies resulting from the severe drought which broke up
in 1902.

The importance of Queensland as a contributor of frozen
beef to Great Britain is noted in the number of freezing
works dotting the course of the Brisbane river. The works
of Thomas Borthwick and Sons, Ltd., expected to start
freezing early in 1912, are situated on the south side of
the river, six or seven miles from Brisbane, and between the
city and Moreton Bay. The buildings are within 200 feet of
tho river, and ocean steamers will load meat at the company's
wharf. Tho site which, it is stated, has been acquired by the
American Meat Trust for freezing works is about half a mile
from Messrs. Borthwick's works.

A recent estimate of the capacity of the freezing works in
Queensland gives 180,000 head of cattle treated during a six
months' running season. This is on a basis of a daily
slaughtering capacity of 2,230 cattle for the ten works in the
State. In addition, over 1,000,000 sheep can be handled for
freezing whilst the works are going at their full capacity
for cattle.

New South Wales.

New South Wales Fresh Food and Ice Co. — Turning now
to New South Wales, and considering the export of frozen
mutton, it may be mentioned that these works at Darling
Harbour, Sydney, opened in 1861 by Mr. Mort, are the oldest
in Australasia. Mr. Mort invested £250,000 in the works ; it
was in 1874 that the company was formally incorporated under
ite present title. In 1898 were erected for the New South
Wales Fresh Food and Ice Co., Ltd., in Liverpool Street,
Sydney, works designed to treat about 5,000 sheep daily or an
equivalent in beef, etc., and to store about 85,000 carcasses of
mutton as well as large quantities of butter, ice, fish, etc., in
addition to which about 32 tons of ice were manufactured daily
in the same building. In arrangement these freezing rooms
and stores were very much after the style of those at Deniliquin,
mentioned hereafter, but considerably larger and much more
heavily piped with ammonia coils, this being done to enable

• 2

52 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

the company to treat meat, when desired for shipment, in the
shortest possible time, which is frequently very essential when
completing the loading of a steamer with a special brand of
meat. The company do not slaughter at their works, but only
freeze. The direct expansion system of refrigeration is
employed. The company have a very extensive local connec-
tion in the supply of refrigerated provisions. At these works
are frozen the sheep slaughtered at the Riverstone establish-
ment, thirty miles from Sydney, owned by Messrs. B. Richards
and Sons, who have shown regularity and courage in their
export trade, having taken their chances year in year out
in selling their mutton on the London market. Mr. A. E.
Pitt is the London agent. Some years ago the Riverstone
Meat Co. had several stalls in the Smithfield market annexe.

Australian Chilling and Freezing Co. — The Australian
Chilling and Freezing Co., Ltd., a London concern of which
Sir Montague Nelson is chairman, first opened works at Aber-
deen, on the Hunter river, in 1891, and in February, 1892, the
s.s. Port Douglas took the first shipment of 13,000 carcasses of
mutton. Mr. W. A. Benn, of Sydney (prominently connected
of late years with the frozen rabbit business), was for many
years manager of the company. The Aberdeen works at the
start offered three forms of contract : first, to purchase
delivered, fat wethers weighing 47 Ibs. and upwards, dressed,
with shanks off, and kidneys and kidney fat removed, at Id.
per Ib. cold weight, all offal, including fat, to belong to the com-
pany, skin and wool to seller ; second, partial sale, the company
to make an advance of fd. per Ib. on sheep, and in the event of
the mutton selling on average above 3^d. per Ib. the company
returning shippers 75 per cent, of surplus, the offal to belong
to the company, the skins and wool to owner ; the third
form, to consign on owner's account, the company treating the
meat, and bagging and shipping it, as well as paying all charges
for a consolidated rate of 2'20d., giving shippers an advance,
and keeping offal and by-products as before. These works
have had to contend with variable seasons and low London
values for the excellent class of mutton and lamb exported,
and their operations have benefited New South Wales and

THE FK1.1./1NG WORKS OF AUSTRALIA r,:j

sheep growers more than the shareholders. Mr. R. C. McAclam
is the manager of the company.

Pastoral Finance Association. — The era of modern well-
equipped freezing works in the parent State of Australia began
in 1801. In that year a freezing plant was installed at the
Pastoral Finance Association's premises, Kirribilli Point, Syd-
ney Harbour. The first directors were Messrs. J. H. Geddes
(manager and managing director), J. F. Burns, Hon. R. H.
Roberts, Hon. G. H. Cox (chairman), Russell Barton, and
J. B. Christian. The daily freezing capacity (Linde machinery)
at the start was 1,500 carcasses, now it is 2,500 ; storage
capacity was at first 50,000 carcasses, now it is 75,000. The
total quantity of meat shipped from 1891 to (March) 1909
was 2,750,000 carcasses. The present directors are Messrs.
Russell Barton (managing director), J. B. Christian, Hon.
G. H. Greene, and W. F. Jacques ; Mr. H. Chilton- Young
is the manager. Owing to the severe drought the works closed
down from 1899 to 1904. No slaughtering is done at this
establishment.

Chilling Up- Country. — An important feature of the freezing
industry which was about the beginning of the nineties
advocated by some of the most able and practical men con-
nected with sheep raising in New South Wales, was the
slaughter of the sheep as near to their pastures as possible,
chilling the carcasses there, and railing the chilled mutton to port
for freezing. Mr. Robert Hudson, of Melbourne and Sydney,
was the first man to introduce this chilling at inland centres.
Works were started at Narrandera (Riverina) and at Tenter-
field in the north. Refrigerator cars were attached to the
trains for the conveyance of the meat to Sydney for freezing.
The works were well equipped, the engineering work being
undertaken by Messrs. J. Wildridge and Sinclair, Ltd. But
neither of the works was operated very successfully, as they
had to compete with the Homebush market, and carriage and
freight costs were against the enterprise. The Tenterfield works
were dismantled shortly afterwards, but the Narrandera works
are still in operation, and are even to-day being refitted to deal
with sheep for export. A carload of mutton from Narrandera

54 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

was offered by auction by Goldsbrough, Mort and Co. in
1890, this handselling of the up-country scheme representing
\\d. to Ifd. per Ib. — a poor start ! The late Mr. J. H. Geddes
was enthusiastic in recommending this system. The late
Alexander Bruce, Chief Inspector of Stock, New South Wales,
also highly approved of up-country chilling, which was
thoroughly discussed by Mr. Cuthbert Fetherstonhaugh in his
pamphlet " The Meat Export Trade," published in 1894. The
authors acknowledge indebtedness for information to this
pamphlet and to Mr. Bruce's " The Meat Trade of Australia,"
1895. On this basis the Young Meat Chilling and Export Co.
was started in 1892 with a guarantee of 200,000 sheep and 3,000
cattle yearly. The mutton was killed and chilled at Young,
and was then sent down in a refrigerated car, run on board
a specially constructed craft at Darling Harbour, and towed
across to Kirribilli Point, where the truck was unloaded at the
works right into the freezing rooms. A similar plant on a
rather larger scale was fitted up at Dubbo, and one also at
Gunnedah. But the risks and costliness of this method put it
out of court ; a sheep cost 2|d. per Ib. to kill and send from
Young to London. The sponsors for this up-country chilling
took their cue from North America, where it was, and is,
practised extensively (but not f or freezing afterwards).

Riverina Frozen Meat Co. — It may be mentioned that
in 1892-1893 there were about 56,000,000 sheep in New
South Wales, and a surplus of about 13,000,000 wethers of
fattening ages, and it was desirable that steps should be taken
to increase freezing facilities. In 1892 Mr. John Cooke, who
had gone to Melbourne from New Zealand in 1889, promoted
the Riverina Frozen Meat Co., which built its works at Denili-
quin, New South Wales, 200 miles from Melbourne. This was
the first concern to demonstrate the practicability of safely
carrying frozen carcasses long distances and in ordinary insulated
wagons in summer. The main idea was to supply country-
killed and frozen mutton and lamb, driven short distances
from their own pastures to the works and thus spared the
deterioration resulting from long railage of the live animals
to Melbourne. The first directors of the Riverina Co. were

'---

THE FREEZING WORKS OF AUSTRALIA

Messrs. John Cooke, Albert Austin, R. O. Blackwood, 8. Frazer,
L. Kiddle, J. Raleigh, and R. B. Ronald. Dalgety and Co.,
Goldsbrough, Mort and Co., the Australian Mortgage Land and
Finance Co., and the Australian Mortgage and Agency Co.
co-operated with Mr. Cooke in securing the necessary capital.
The first shipment of meat was despatched from Melbourne in
1895 per s.s. Maori. The long series of droughty seasons in
the Riverina reduced surplus fat stock to such an extent that
the works have never been kept going steadily, and, indeed,
have perforce remained idle for several consecutive years.
Mr. Frank Coxon, the well-known Australian consulting and
refrigerating engineer, says of the Deniliquin works that they
were at the time of their erection far and away the most com-
plete in Australasia or elsewhere for the economical handling
and freezing of sheep, and although certain after-provisions
were made for the treatment of a limited number of cattle,
that was of small moment, the Riverina not being a large beef-
producing district. Everything, he adds, went exceedingly
well with the Deniliquin works until the great drought set in,
and it is a noteworthy fact that, notwithstanding that those
works are situated about 245 miles from Melbourne, the port
of shipment, shipmasters and others who have handled the
meat declare that it is as good as the best frozen and hardest
meat shipped from that port.

Graziers' Meat Export Co. — The other company formed in
1892 to build works inland was the Graziers' Meat Export
Co. of New South Wales, capital £250,000. It was Mr.
Fetherstonhaugh who, in spite of the apathy of the squat-
ters, worked up this concern, and the names associated with
its initiation, in addition to his, were W. A. Cottee, T. F.
Knox, George Maiden, W. F. Lawry, F. W. Bacon, W. H.
Armstrong, and George Mair. Works were put up at Sandown
(Parramatta River), Werris Creek, Carrathool, Nyngan, and
Forbes. Sandown was a freezing establishment, the other four
being up-country chilling depots. The career of the Graziers'
Co. was disastrous, and about 1901 the whole of the works were
acquired by a syndicate of London capitalists called the Austral
Freezing Works, Ltd., the country works being dismantled

56 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

or sold, experience having proved that a central works at
Sydney, where the supplies of fat stock from nearly all parts
of the State are marketed, and where large and regular freezing
operations are possible, is essential from every point of view.
Sandown only is now worked — by Messrs. John Cooke and
Co., who took it over from the Austral Co. in 1902.

Sandown Freezing Works.— The Sandown undertaking has
been extended from time to time, and can now treat 6,000
sheep and 150 bullocks daily.

From the above short history regarding country-killed
frozen meat the conclusion may be drawn that, although the
principle was apparently a sound one, it has since been demon-
strated that such meat, whilst admittedly a better article of
food, costs more and does not command an enhanced price
over that railed alive to the seaboard and treated there.

In August, 1911, the farmers of the Byron Bay (north
coast) district formed " the Byron Bay Co-operative Canning
and Freezing Co.," capital £50,000, with excellent prospects
of founding an important concern.

Victoria.

Newport Freezing Works.— Victoria was early in the field,
for this company, formed in Melbourne after the Strathleven
shipment, erected works at Newport, near Melbourne, the
second freezing works erected in Australasia. The Victorian
Government afterwards acquired Newport, which first assumed
commercial export shape when Mr. John Hotson secured a
lease of the works. In 1893 Nelson Brothers, Ltd., and
Mr. Hotson came to a working arrangement to freeze for
export regularly at Newport. In 1896 Mr. Hotson sold out
his interest to the Austral Co., and the firm of John Cooke and
Co. has ever since used the works as its chief base for preparing
and shipping its well-known " Champion brand " of mutton
and lamb. Fuller details of the formation and operations
of these works appear in " The Work of the Pioneers,"
Chapter II.

Portland Freezing Works. — These works were built in

THE FREEZING WORKS OF AUSTRALIA 67

1805, and were taken over in 1001 by Messrs. Thomas
Borthwick and Sons, Ltd., from the Portland and Western
District Freezing Co. The daily capacity is 1,200 lambs;
storage capacity 25,000 carcasses of mutton. Messrs. Borthwick
also have works near Melbourne.

Western Freezing Co. — These works at Geelong also date
from 1805, and were likewise (in 1901) acquired by London
capitalists ; the purchasers, Messrs. W. and R. Fletcher, Ltd.,
have operated the works regularly up to the present time.
Both Messrs. Fletcher's works and those of the Geelong Har-
bour Trust (Corio Freezing Works and Abattoirs) are well
designed and compact establishments. At the latter works,
which were opened in 1909, an excellent innovation has been
introduced. A stream of water flows at the back of the
slaughterers, who, in killing, throw the offal behind them, and the
water conveys it away to a grating, where the fat is collected.

Government Cool Stores. — This large undertaking, belong-
ing to the City Council, established in the heart of Melbourne,
is under the charge of Mr. R. Crowe, and turns over a con-
siderable quantity of frozen lambs, poultry, and sundries.
The Victorian Government have decided to erect works of
their own near the docks at a cost of £75,000.

W. Angliss and Co. — One of the large freezing works of
Australia is that belonging to Messrs. W. Angliss and Co., at
Footscray, near Melbourne. The Imperial Freezing Works
were opened in 1905. Messrs. Angliss also own works in Bourke
Street, Melbourne. Mr. A. E. Pitt, 64, West Smithfield, B.C.,
is the London agent of Messrs. Angliss.

Wimmera Co-operative Freezing Works. — The opening of
the Wimmera Co-operative Freezing Works at Murtoa,
Victoria, on September 28, 1911, marked the commencement
of yet another effort to make up-country freezing establish-
ments a payable proposition in Australia. These works,
which constitute one of the biggest co-operative schemes in
the State, cost £45,000, and have storage accommodation
for 40,000 carcasses, and are capable of treating 2,500 a
clay. The first shipment — 10,000 lambs — was made on
October 21.

58 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

Four other freezing works in Melbourne occasionally avail-
able for meat export are : The Melbourne Ice Skating and
Refrigerating Co. ; Messrs. J. Bartram and Sons' works, Flinders
Lane ; Sennitt and Sons Proprietary, Ltd., Miller Street ; and
the Victorian Butter Factories Co-operative Co., Flinders
Street.

South Australia and Western Australia.

Freezing works in Adelaide, South Australia, were suggested
as early as 1891. The Government of the State started freez-
ing by building State refrigeration works at Port Adelaide,
and has been much criticized for so doing. It is an axiom
that the Government of a country should not interfere with
private enterprise. But where private enterprise is lacking in
a young country, the State is justified in stepping in to
promote and conduct an industry required for the country's
development. About 1894,Mr.D. J. Gordon, M.H.R.,then com-
mercial editor of the Adelaide Register, strongly advocated the
establishment of the frozen lamb export trade, and he called
a meeting for the discussion of the subject. Many South
Australian leading pastoralists who were present threw cold
water on the proposal, and said that South Australia would
never be a lamb-exporting country. Capital to float a private
company formed to build freezing works at Port Adelaide
could not be obtained. Now was the occasion for the Govern-
ment of the Colony to step in.

Port Adelaide Works. — The influence of the late Hon.
Thomas Price, leader of the Labour Party in the South
Australian Parliament from 1901, and afterwards Premier, and
of Sir John Cockburn, Premier in 1889 — 1890, was successful in
getting the Port Adelaide works erected ; this establishment,
equal to handling 300,000 sheep and lambs yearly, is one of
the largest in Australasia. Mr. Gordon's spirited advocacy of
the lamb export trade has been justified by the considerable
number of lambs which have been and are now put through
these works. Exporting was begun in 1895, and to June 30,
1911, 2,468,076 animals had been frozen for export, and for the

THE FREEZING WORKS OF AUSTRALIA .-,<)

last season 241,533 carcasses were shipped, of which number
195,000 were lambs. In 1006 it was apparent that the works
needed enlargement and reconstruction in order to deal effec-
tively with the rush of lambs that had to be handled smartly
during the short lamb-freezing season. An investigation of
the latest methods adopted by the New Zealand freezing com-
panies was made by Mr. C. F. G. McCann on behalf of the
Government of South Australia, and as the result of the special
enquiries made by this gentleman (who is now Trades Commis-
sioner for South Australia in London) the Port Adelaide works
were considerably enlarged and modernized, especially in the
direction of economical treatment of the by-products. The
only other exporting freezing works in the State is the works
formerly owned by the Adelaide Ice and Cold Storage Co.
This was purchased by the South Australian Government in
1910 for £35,000. So the State has the monopoly of freezing
for export in South Australia.

Western Fresh Food and Ice Co. — This company completed
a small works at Fremantle, Western Australia (which also has
inland freezing establishments at Perth and Kalgoorlie), in
1906 ; but the only frozen meat export taking place thence has
been a tentative shipment or two of lambs sent to London. The
Western Australian Government are going to erect works
at Wyndham and other ports on the north-west coast, and if
the intentions, as stated, of the Bovril Australian Estates,
Ltd., an important London company, are carried out, the cattle
owners of North- Western Australia will have an outlet for
their stock in the shape of a meat freezing works on the
northern coast line of Western Australia.

CHAPTER IV

NEW ZEALAND FREEZING WORKS

THE frozen meat industry in New Zealand was started by the
large sheep owners with the assistance of the various land,
finance, and mercantile companies, and it may be said that
but for the assistance of these companies there would not have
been any chance of the industry being floated. The majority
of the sheep farmers in the colony were so involved, and the
price of stock was so low, at the beginning of the eighties, that
the pastoral industry was largely in the hands of these com-
panies. The early shipments of frozen meat were on account
of the growers, and were consigned to the various financial
companies in England doing business with the Colony. The
freezing companies came to be termed " farmers' companies,"
many of them simply freezing on behalf of the owners.

The progress of the frozen meat trade in New Zealand can
probably be best reviewed by referring to the establishment,
one after another, of the freezing works in that country.

New Zealand Refrigerating Co. — The first enterprise of the
kind was the New Zealand Refrigerating Co., which was formed
in 1881 with freezing works at Burnside, near Dunedin, and a
few years afterwards at Oamaru. This concern, though the
pioneer company, never reached any great proportions. For
some time the directors endeavoured to carry on purely a
freezing business ; in later years they developed into a buying
company. The Dunedin works were the first in New Zealand.
The first directors were Messrs. John Roberts, C.M.G.
(Murray Roberts and Co.), W. I. M. Larnach, E. B. Cargill,
E. I. Spence (Dalgety and Co.), Robert Wilson, A. C. Begg
(Robert Campbell and Co., Ltd.), and James Shand. The
company froze the meat cargo for the s.s. Marsala —
the third shipment — 8,506 carcasses ; this shipment, made

U

NEW ZEALAND FREEZING WORKS 61

in 1883, being the first from New Zealand by steamship.
The company also loaded, in 1883, the steamers Sorrento,
Fenatanton, and Ionic, with respectively, 8,295, 7,840, and
9,691 carcasses, and also killed for the Dunedin's second
voyage 8,295 sheep, these being railed to the Dunedin and
frozen on board. The British King also sailed in the same year,
1883, with some 10,000 carcasses. In 1884 the New Zealand
Refrigerating Co. froze and shipped 72,420 carcasses up to
July, and up to July, 1885, it froze and shipped 77,370
carcasses and 54 cattle. During 1885, 39,370 carcasses of
sheep were frozen on board the s.s. Elderslie at Oamaru.
The freight paid on the mutton carried by this vessel was
2Jd. per Ib.

Mr. John Roberts remained a director of the New Zealand
Refrigerating Co. till 1905, when it was wound up and
absorbed by the Christchurch Meat Co. Mr. Thomas Brydone
had joined the board in 1884, and these two gentlemen always
took a leading part in the development of the trade. The
Otago District thus started the frozen meat trade in New
Zealand, but now lags far behind, being outstripped by Canter-
bury, and Southland, and the North Island.

Canterbury Frozen Meat Co. — The second company to be
formed was the Canterbury Frozen Meat and Dairy Produce
Co. with a capital of £20,000. The names on the circular
convening the meeting on November 11, 1881, which led to the
formation of the company, were : — John Grigg, of Ashburton,
John Tinline, of Amuri, and John Macfarlane, of Coldstream,
Rangiora. Mr. John Cooke, then Canterbury manager of the
New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Co., was
largely instrumental in the formation of the company ; he wrote
to the gentlemen named, and obtained their permission to
summon the meeting in their names. Messrs. Frederick Banks,
William Chrystall, John Cooke, John T. Ford, and John Grigg,
were the first directors, Mr. Frederick Waymouth being
appointed secretary, pro tern. The promoters, naturally,
knew very little about mechanical refrigeration then, and had
to grope their way from the very start. There was the
inevitable " battle of the sites," and Lyttelton itself being

62 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

impossible, they selected Belfast, an excellent location, as it
proved. A Haslam refrigerating machine of 40,000 cubic feet
cooling capacity was ordered. The company was fortunate in
getting as its architect and engineer Mr. Frank Coxon, now of
Sydney.

The daily killing and freezing capacity was only 250 to 300
carcasses of mutton, and it was predicted by many business
men that the export of 2,000 carcasses weekly, if maintained,
would soon deplete the flocks of Canterbury and bring about
something like a meat famine. As the freezing works of Canter-
bury have now a weekly killing and freezing capacity of fully
150,000 sheep and/or lambs, while the province must have ex-
ported nearer thirty than twenty million carcasses since 1883,
such prophecies now seem very absurd. Slaughtering began
on February 16, 1883, and in April the first shipment was made
from Belfast on the s.s. British King. Curiously enough, this
vessel was built at Belfast, Ireland, and she was commanded
by Captain Kelly, of Belfast, while Mr. John Cooke was born
in Belfast, a somewhat remarkable chain of circumstances.

For about five years the Canterbury Frozen Meat Co., which
was merely a freezing company not operating in stock or the
export of meat on its own account at all, had the field to
itself. Another company was promoted, and some capital
raised, but it did not even buy a site and eventually refunded
to the applicants the money subscribed. One of the leading
features of the Canterbury Company was strict adher-
ence to a high standard of quality, including an absolute
embargo on the freezing of old ewes. Nothing but prime
wethers and maiden ewes and prime lambs were accepted by
the company for treatment, and the directors resisted all
pressure to relax this rule ; but in 1890 ewe mutton was taken
for freezing, and some time after that second quality lambs
were frozen and shipped. The company's leading brands are
" C F M Co " and " Diamond." It took Belfast six years
to record 1,000,000 sheep frozen. In 1887 the works were
enlarged and completely remodelled ; in 1889 by-products
were taken in hand ; in 1893 a Hall's CO2 machine was
installed; in 1896 a Hercules machine was added; and by

NEW ZEALAND FREEZING WORKS fi:J

1908 the works had a capacity of 6,000 sheep and lambs per
day, and storage equal to 120,000 carcasses. In 1809 the
company established works at Fairfield, Ash burton. Works
at Pareora, South Canterbury, were opened on April 7, 1904 ;
these have a capacity of 4,500 sheep and lambs per day, and
storage space equal to over 100,000 carcasses.

The question of freight greatly embarrassed this company's
early operations. In May, 1887, the company, together with
Nelson Brothers and the Southland company, signed a contract
wit h the Tyser Lane, and with the advent of the Balmoral Castle,
the first Tyser steamer sent out, the difficulty about tonnage
gradually disappeared. The capital of the company is now
£225,000, and during the twenty-five years of freezing the
company has paid in all 191 per cent, dividend on the ordinary
shares. The present directorate is : Messrs. John C. N.
Grigg, James Gough, Sir George Clifford (chairman), George
Humphreys, and R. H. Rhodes.

Gear Meat Co. — The next freezing concern to be registered
in New Zealand was the Gear Meat Preserving and Freezing
Co. of New Zealand. This was formed in November,
1882, for the purpose of acquiring the butchering and meat
preserving business of the late Mr. James Gear, at Wellington,
in the North Island. The slaughtering capacity at the start
was 600 sheep and 40 cattle per day ; at the present time it is
over 6,000 and 100 respectively. The refrigerating system
originally employed was cold air compression, afterwards re-
placed by C0a compression machinery. The first directors
were Messrs. P. A. Buckley, J. Duthie, R. Greenfield, W. H.
Levin, J. R. Lysaght, J. McKelvie, N. Reid, J. S. M. Thomp-
son, and James Gear, managing director. The present board
are Messrs. D. Anderson, H. Beauchamp, H. D. Bell, J. R.
Blair, A. K. Newman, N. Reid, and W. H. Millward, chair-
man and managing director, and the secretary is Mr. W. H.
Tripe. Mr. Gear died in 1911, at the age of seventy-five,
and was chairman of directors up to the time of his death.
With a consistent policy and under able management the
Gear Co. has had a very successful career. It possesses one
of the most complete freezing establishments in Australasia.

64 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

Nelson Brothers. — The operations of Nelson Brothers have
been alluded to ; their works were first erected at Tomoana,
and afterwards at Waipukurau and Woodville. The company
now has two establishments in the Hawke's Bay district —
Tomoana and Gisborne. Woodville has been sold to a bacon-
curing company, and Waipukurau is dismantled. The daily
killing capacity and the sheep storage of these works are respec-
tively 6,100 and 160,000. Messrs. Nelson Brothers also have
works at Hornby, Canterbury district. The company built the
Ocean Beach works at the Bluff, now owned by Messrs. Birt
and Co., Ltd., of London. It is generally considered that the
most carefully conceived plan for carrying on the frozen
meat trade was that proposed by Mr. William Nelson. Many
of the New Zealand sheep growers had no faith in the perma-
nency of the new industry, and some were actively in oppo-
sition, so Mr. Nelson, who formed clear ideas as to buying
arrangements in New Zealand and a selling organization in
London, entered into contracts with farmers in various dis-
tricts. In 1887-88 Nelson Brothers made forward contracts
with sheep farmers, giving 2d. per Ib. for the carcass unfrozen,
sellers also getting the full value of the skin and fat.

The Christchurch Meat Co. — In 1888 it was made
quite clear that many producers were dissatisfied with the
system of consigning their meat to London for sale, and
that they wished to determine their risks by selling their
stock alive to a freezing company or a speculative exporter.
Up to that time freezing had been carried on by the larger
growers and stock owners. The farmer, in contradistinction to
the sheep grower or squatter, realized that he was not
obtaining for his stock a price equivalent to what was being
realized by those who were freezing and shipping sheep. He
himself had not the large supplies to draw from to enable him
to contract forward for freezing space, or to make regular
shipments to London. The late Mr. James Watt, and the
late Mr. Peter Cunningham, in conjunction with Mr. John
Cooke, were mainly instrumental in forming the Christchurch
Meat Co., Ltd., a concern established to conduct the
business on new methods. The old Templeton preserving

NEW ZEALAND FREEZING WORKS ftt

works and property were acquired, the name being changed
to Islington. Thus the Islington freezing factory came into
existence. The first directors of the Christchurch Meat Co.,
Ltd., were Messrs. J. M. Watt, John Cooke, David Morrow,
Joseph Murgatroyd, Mcgregor Watt, Peter Cunningham, and
S. K. Bassett. The present directors are Messrs. H. A. Knight
(chairman), Thomas Teschemaker, John Roberts, C.M.G.,
and the Hon. H. F. Wigram. Mr. Wm. Murray is manager,
and Mr. W. O. Campbell is secretary.

A word or two may here be said about the London repre-
sentation of the Christchurch Meat Co. In 1896 the company
decided to send Mr. John A. Randall to supervise its interests
in London. Mr. Randall had a thorough knowledge of the
trade from a farmer's point of view ; he remained in
London for about a year, until Mr. Robert Galloway, the
company's manager at Timaru, was sent to London as the
representative. On Mr. Galloway leaving to join the firm of
Gordon, Woodroffe and Co. in 1900, Mr. Randall again took
charge. On Mr. Randall's early and regretted death in 1901,
Mr. A. W. Pottinger took the position, which he held till
1905. From 1905 to 1910 Mr. William Henderson represented
the Christchurch Meat Co. at West Smithfield, and on his term
of agreement expiring he returned to New Zealand, when he
was succeeded by Mr. F. T. Boys, the company's secretary at
Christchurch ; Mr. Boys is the London manager at the present
time ; the office is at 64, West Smithfield, E.G.

At the company's start the slaughtering capacity was 500
sheep per day, and now it is about 15,000 and 100 cattle at
the Islington, Smithfield, Picton, Oamaru, and Burnside works.
Cold air refrigerating machinery was originally used, but the
ammonia compression system is now employed. The successful
starting of the company took place at the beginning of
the era of the modern, well equipped, freezing works. The
Christchurch Meat Co. was really founded in the interests of
the small farmer who could not afford to consign his meat
to London, or whose stock available for freezing was not
considerable enough for him to undertake the export trade.
The company pooled these farmers' lots.

F.M. F

Mr. John Cooke sends the following remarks concerning the
new conditions then introduced : " The rivalry created between
the two freezing companies was very beneficial to producing
interests, as not only did it ensure full values, but it proved a
great stimulus to breeding and fattening ; indeed, the example
shown to the rest of New Zealand is admitted to have been
one of the most important factors in the great progress of the
Colony during the last twenty years. Prior to 1883 there were
periods of great depression in values of stock and landed
property, but the frozen meat industry quickly provided a
huge outlet, and gave a permanence to pastoral and agricultural
enterprise which cannot be disputed. I remember seeing
shorn sheep sold by the score because the price was so low
that they had hardly any value per head. The pelts after the
wool was taken off were so valueless at one time that the
cheapest method of disposing of them was by burying them in
pits immediately they left the puller's beam.

" One of the initial obstacles to the speedy expansion of the
trade was the scarcity of refrigerated space, and the greatest
trouble was experienced by freezing companies (1) in getting
sufficient insulated tonnage, and (2) in obtaining a reasonable
rate of freight. The rate of freight was originally 2fd. per lb.,
including freezing on board ship, but when steamers were
introduced a reduction to Ifd. per lb. was secured, at which it
stood for some time. The total charges for treatment, freight,
insurance, and selling, were originally in the neighbourhood of
3d. per lb., a figure which was prohibitive if the trade was to
assume any magnitude, and having regard to the undoubted
prejudice which frozen meat had originally to contend with
at the hands of the British consumer.

" Generally speaking, the shipowners from the outset recog-
nized the wisdom of friendly and active co-operation with the
freezing companies, but they made one serious blunder which
producers and freezing companies deeply resented, but which,
fortunately, was quickly remedied. They allied themselves
with certain manufacturers of refrigerating machinery under an
agreement whereby the manufacturer was to supply their
steamers alone with his plant, while the shipowner was to use

:

•ft-

NEW ZEALAND FREEZING WORKS 67

that special plant exclusively. By that attempted restraint it
was expected that outside refrigerated tonnage would be
excluded from New Zealand, and that further reduction on
freight would be prevented.

" One of the great ambitions of the directors of the
Canterbury Frozen Meat Co., actively led by the late
Mr. John Grigg, was to get the rate of freight reduced to the
' round Id. per lb.,' and when this was accomplished, with the
assistance of the Into .Mr. W. H. Tyser, there was great
rejoicing in pastoral circles. This brought the consolidated
charges down to under 2d. per lb., and was the means of stimu-
lating production all over the South Island in a remarkable
way."

The first venture undertaken by the Christchurch Meat
Co. was killing the stock at Islington, and freezing on
board the sailing ship Wellington. This shipment, which
realized remarkably good prices, consisted mainly of lambs,
and was handled by Messrs. W. Weddel and Co., who had just
started in business when the cargo was entrusted to them.
The cargo was sold splendidly. The prices realized would
make shippers' mouths water to-day ; from 6d. to 9d. per lb.
was fetched for lambs ! The Christchurch Meat Co. saw
that if it was to carry out the wishes of the farmer,
it must be in a position to do the work thoroughly, and,
therefore, special attention was paid to working up the by-
products. Up to this time the pelts and the largest portion
of the viscera were simply buried, in many works even the
blood was allowed to run to waste. The Christchurch Meat
Co.'s first concern was to utilize these by-products, and
to work up a scheme which would result in the company
making the greater proportion of its profits out of these and
the skin and fat, looking on the meat mainly as a by-product
of the works.

Within two years of the start of the company's opera-
tions, that is, in 1891, Mr. Gilbert Anderson was asked
to take up the position of managing director, and it was
under his management that the scheme just mentioned was
carried out, and that the general organization of the company's

F 2

68 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

business was brought up to an excellent standard. Special
attention was given to grading the sheep, not only for quality,
but for weight. This enabled the c.i.f. business to be put on a
proper footing, and the standard and grades which were
established at these works have been extensively adopted
throughout the New Zealand freezing industry.

The Christchurch Meat Co., in 1893, took over the works
and business of the South Canterbury Freezing Co.
at Timaru. In two years' time these works were enlarged, and
named Smithfield. Another absorption took place in 1899,
when the Wairau Freezing Co.'s business was taken over,
this necessitating the erection of new and modern works
at Picton. In 1905 the company absorbed the New Zealand
Refrigerating Co., with its works at Burnside, Dunedin ;
and Oamaru. The Christchurch Meat Co. has always
been progressive, enterprising, and modern. In 1906 Mr.
Anderson retired from the company.

Wellington Meat Export Co. — The Wellington Meat Export
Co. was incorporated in September, 1881, as a farmers'
freezing company. The late William Dilnot Sladden, who
joined the company as manager, later added the c.i.f. principle
to the business ; Mr. F. D. Sladden, his son, is the present
secretary. This company has shown considerable enterprise
in the utilization of new machinery, the directors being the
first to introduce ammonia refrigerating machines into use
at freezing works. The company's works have been recently
rebuilt in brick, and raised to a killing capacity of 6,000 sheep
per day with a storage capacity of 150,000, the freezing
capacity at the start being only 300 sheep per day. The
producer gas system has been introduced for power, driving
not only the refrigerating machines but also the by-pro-
ducts machinery. Hercules ammonia compression machinery
cooling on the direct expansion system is now installed, the
plant used at the beginning of operations being the Haslam
air compression machine. The first directors were Messrs. W.

C. Buchanan, W. Booth, George Beetham, J. T. Dalrymple,
H. H. Lang, J. R. Lysaght, J. E. Nathan, Chas. Pharazin, and

D. Peat. The present directors are Messrs. W. G. Foster

-'•$
Jflfl

NEW ZEALAND FREEZING WORKS W

(managing director), W. C. Buchanan, M.P., W. H. Beetham,
Charles Elgar, E. Newman, M.P., J. W. Marshall, and
J. Campion.

Longburn Freezing Co. — The Longburn Freezing Co.
was established in 1895 ; Longburn is 80 miles from Welling-
ton, on the main line of railway. The original directors were
Means. C. Bull (chairman), J. McLennan, R. S. Abraham, J.
O. Batchelor, D. Buick, and — Howard ; Mr. J. Beale was
manager. The original slaughtering capacity was 800 sheep
and 25 cattle per day. Now the works can slaughter 1,000
sheep and 80 cattle daily, and the storage space is equal to
25,000 carcasses. Haslam machines were first installed, Linde
plant now being used. In 1896 the company was taken over
by the National Mortgage and Agency Co. of New Zealand.
Mr. J. Anderson is the manager of the Longburn Freezing
Company.

Auckland Farmers' Freezing: Co. — The Auckland Farmers'
/.ing Co. was established in 1903, the works being
completed and killing started in March, 1905. The capital of
the company is £75,000, of which £43,830 has been issued,
and the directors are Messrs. J. Barugh (chairman), J. E.
Makgill, H. E. Worsp, G. Goodwin, S. Wing, S. J. Ambury,
and L. J. Bagnall ; with Mr. H. G. Stringer as manager
and secretary. The daily killing capacity is 1,600 sheep
and 100 cattle, and the storage space is equal to 45,000
carcasses. Haslam ammonia compression machines are em-
ployed. The Auckland Farmers' Freezing Co. in 1906 bought
out the Auckland Freezing Co., which was established in
1884. The farmers of the province thereupon decided to
build works of their own, and, negotiations with the pro-
prietors of the old company having failed, they erected
works at Southdown, near Auckland. In 1906, as stated,
the Farmers' Co. took over the Auckland works of the old
company. The stock and offal are frozen at Southdown and
railed to the ship's side, and the local freezing is done at the
Auckland works.

Wanganui Meat Freezing Co. — The Wanganui Meat Freez-
ing Co., Ltd., was established in 1891 at the mouth

70 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

of the Wanganni river. The first directors were Messrs. E. A.
Campbell (chairman), A. Burnett, H. Cornfoot, J. B. Murray,
A. J. Parsons, G. S. Robertson, William Ritchie, and John
Stevenson. Mr. C. M. Cresswell, the secretary, states that
when operations were started, and for a few years afterwards,
the output of the works was nearly all sheep, with a few cattle.
Now more lambs than sheep are put through, and the quality
of the lamb is improving year by year, owing mainly to the use
in the district of Southdown rams. Twenty years ago the
sheep round Wanganui were nearly all Lincoln, since then
Romney and Leicester rams have been largely used for
general purposes and the Down ram for lamb raising. The
Wanganui works have a killing capacity of 3,500 sheep a
day, with a storage capacity of 60,000 carcasses.

Qisborne Sheepfarmers' Frozen Meat Co. — The Gisborne
Sheepfarmers' Frozen Meat Co., Ltd., started work in
1902. The first directors were Messrs. C. A. de Lautour,
(chairman), F. B. Barker, W. R. Barker, John Clark, William
Cooper, W. K. Chambers, F. Hall, E. M. Hutchinson, P. T.
Kenway, and W. D. Lysnar. The board at present is com-
posed of Messrs. C. A. de Lautour (chairman), F. B. Barker, W.
R. Barker, W. K. Chambers, Charles Gray, E. M. Hutchinson,
F. Hall, John Clark, F. Holden, and C. J. Parker. Mr. W. F.
Cederwell has been manager from the beginning. The
slaughtering capacity at date of establishment was 800
sheep per day ; now it is 4,500, and 150 cattle. A Hercules
refrigerating machine cooling on the direct expansion system
is installed. The company was formed on co-operative lines ;
in 1908 £30,000 was paid in wages.

Waitara Freezing Works. — The Waitara Freezing Works
were purchased in 1902 by Messrs. Thomas Borthwick and
Sons, Ltd. The directors of the old company when taken over
were Messrs. G. Riddell, E. H. Godsal, J. Hine, A. A. Fantham,
H. Goode, and G. Bailey. The works were destroyed by fire
in 1904, and were rebuilt on an enlarged plan in the following
year. The daily capacity is now 150 cattle and 750 sheep,
and the storage capacity is equal to 40,000 carcasses.

Hastings Freezing Works. — The Hastings Freezing Works,

TUB FUKKZIM; WUKKS OK THE «;IMI«>UNK SHKKI--KAKMKKS, KKUZKN MEAT co., LTD.,

NEW X.KAI.ANH.

To fact p. 70.

NEW /I ALAND FREEZING WORKS 71

Paki-Paki, Hawko's Bay, wore croctod by Messrs . Borthwick
in 1905. The daily capacity is 30 cattle and 2,000 sheep,
u ith a storage capacity of 30,000 carcasses of mutton.

The Wellington Farmers' Meat Co. — This company was
formed in 1909. The Board consists of the following gentle-
men : — Messrs. J. C. Cooper (chairman), R. Clephane, F. B.
Lowes, J. R. Franklin, R. D. MoKenzie, T. Hodgins, and
George Pain. The works are situated near Masterton,
Wairarapa, and the daily slaughtering capacity is equal to the
handling of over 2,000 sheep.

The Nelson Freezing Co. — This company began shipping in
1908. The directors are : — Messrs. George MacMahon (chair-
man), A. Drummond, F. W. Fairey, Frank Hamilton, D. T. J.
Rouse, and J. 8. Wratt. The works are at Stoke, and the
capacity is given as 1,000 sheep per day, with storage equal
to 30,000 carcasses.

The Ocean Beach Works, Bluff (owned by Birt and Co.,
Ltd.), were erected in 1891 ; the North British and Hawke's
Bay Freezing Co. (Napier Works) were built in 1888 ; the
Patea Farmers' Co-operative Freezing Co., began exporting
meat in 1904 ; the Southland Frozen Meat and Produce
Export Co., formed in 1884, has works at Mataura and the
Bluff ; and the Tokomaru Sheepfarmers' Freezing Co. began
shipping in 1911.

Such are the particulars of the establishment and progress
of New Zealand's meat freezing works. A full list of these
works in the Dominion will be found in Appendix VII. Refer-
ence may now be made in a general way to the process of
development under which the meat works of to-day have
attained their fine equipment and completeness.

Refrigerating Installations. — Of course, the meat works in
the early eighties were primitive affairs. Freezing for export
was quite a speculation, and there were many " doubting
Thomases " in New Zealand, either actively or passively
antagonistic to the new industry. The scale of shipments was
small, both on account of the limited capacity of vessels and
limited trade in England. So, everything was elementary, and
the design and equipment of the freezing establishments were

72 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

crude. As time went on and the market value in England of
frozen meat fell, it was naturally found necessary to effect
economy in the general organization of the works. About
1890 it was plain that the actual freezing was costing too
much. The cold air machine had been used successfully,
but it was expensive in the matter of fuel consumed. British
engineers were not alert in meeting the felt want, and New
Zealanders had to go to America to gain information. The
British refrigerating machinery manufacturers, as soon as they
saw their business being threatened, set themselves to
supply an economical freezing machine, with the result that
the Haslam and the Linde ammonia machines, and Hall's COa
machine, are the types of refrigerating plant used in New
Zealand to-day. The American Hercules ammonia machine
is found at some works. A Linde " Disc " machine installed
in the new works of the Wellington Meat Export Co. was the
first departure from the cold air principle. This was followed
by ammonia machines cooling on the direct expansion system
being fitted at Islington, and by Hall's carbonic acid machines
cooling on the brine system at Belfast.

In 1891 there were seventeen freezing works in New Zealand,
with a total freezing capacity of 3,665,000 sheep a year, and in
1911 the number of works had increased to 31, with a capacity
for dealing with 82,000 sheep per day.

The Operations at a New Zealand Meat Works. — In New
Zealand the invariable practice is to have the whole works
complete in a series of buildings. The stock are brought by rail
or road to the drafting yards. All stock suitable for freezing
are carefully drafted, and animals not suitable for freezing are
either sent back to the farms or killed for tinning. The stock
after leaving the yards are driven into carefully constructed
abattoirs, where they are readily handled by the slaughter-
men under the very best approved sanitary conditions. The
stock are then killed and dressed, and the offal is at once re-
moved to the buildings for treating the by-products. The
carcasses are carefully cleaned, dressed, graded, weighed, and
passed into the cooling room. In most of the New Zealand
slaughterhouses the cooling room is constructed in such a

NEW ZEALAND FREEZING WORKS 78

manner as to allow for a rapid current of air, which quickly
cools down and " seta " the carcass. In the northern portion
of New Zealand, and in most of the Australian work*, the
cooling has to be assisted by artificial means — brine pipes or
cool air. As soon as the carcasses are " set," they are con-
veyed— invariably by overhead rail — to the freezing rooms,
which are long narrow apartments where the carcasses remain
suspended from the rails till they are hard frozen. The actual
time taken in freezing varies according to the lowness of the
temperature applied, and ranges from 36 to 60 hours. As soon
as the carcasses are frozen thoroughly hard, bags are put on,
with numbers corresponding to the tickets — indicating the
grade and quality — which have been attached to the carcasses
when graded. Immediately after bagging, the carcasses are
fit to go into the store room, where they are stacked up one
on top of the other, the various marks and numbers being
kept separate until ready for shipment. The frozen sheep
and lambs are loaded direct into insulated railway vans and
conveyed to the steamer. In almost all the New Zealand ports
the steamers are provided with loading port-holes. Canvas
awnings are spread between the dock and the steamer, and
the carcasses are passed rapidly from the vans along wooden
shoots through the portholes into the refrigerated holds of the
vessels.

This rough sketch of the operations at a New Zealand freez-
ing works conveys but a poor idea of the thorough methods
and scientific management now practised in the meat freezing
industry of the Dominion. The figures and facts given by Sir
Joseph Ward in Chapter XXII. show at a glance the splendid
results flowing from the meat freezing industry, and these
results — the direct outcome of the operations at the freezing
works — indicate a very considerable effectiveness in the general
system and management of the frozen meat industry in New
Zealand.

CHAPTER V

THE SOUTH AMERICAN FRIGORIFICOS

THE story of the rise and development of the Argentine
frigorifico, or freezing works, could be made romantic, so
abounding with stirring events has it been. The tale of the
beginnings of the freezing industry in South America has
been told in the chapter of this book in which the authors
have endeavoured to immortalize some of refrigeration's
pioneers. From these beginnings, founded partly with British
capital, great successes have arisen, though the movements of
the Argentine meat exporting companies have not been
uniformly forward nor financially successful year by year.
But the results achieved, both in the dividends to shareholders
and the establishment of a splendid industry, helpful to both
the estanciero and the meat exporter, form a record of which
all persons engaged in the business may well be proud. The
descent upon Argentina of the North American " Trust " houses
has been the most startling event in the later stages of the
Argentine meat export industry, and it is a subject of frequent
discussion how far-reaching that important happening is des-
tined to be in future developments.

Before describing the various meat freezing enterprises in
Argentina and their development, it may be well briefly to
review the growth of the industry in that country. The first
period of the freezing industry in Argentina may be said to
have closed in 1899, up to the end of which year 442,000,000
kilos, of mutton and 29,000,000 kilos, of beef were exported by
the three great concerns (Sansinena's, River Plate Fresh Meat
Co., and Las Palmas [J. Nelson and Sons] ) which held the field
without competition. The shipments of mutton year by year
showed wonderful expansion. Frozen beef was shipped
irregularly up to 1895, in which year this section of the Argen-
tine meat trade was begun in earnest. It is worth giving the

THE SOUTH AMERICAN FRIGORIFICOS 75

figures to show the rate of increase : 1895, 1,587,000 kilos. ;
1896, 2,996,000; 1897, 4,241,000; 1898, 5,867,000; 1899,
9,079,000. Increases were shown in the shipment of this
article right away from 1895 to 1906. During this period lambs
were of no account ; in 1897 12,000 were shipped to England,
but after that the shipments were reduced, and thus did not
compete with the increasing Australasian trade in this article.

The Live Cattle Trade and its Stoppage.

The closing of the English ports to Argentine cattle in 1900,
owing to the outbreak in the Republic of foot-and-mouth
disease, was a great stimulus to the frigorificos. The serious
disturbance caused by the crisis is seen in the fact that the
respective values of live stock and frozen meat exported in
1899 were $8,482,511 and $2,665,073, gold. The import of
Argentine live stock into Great Britain was prohibited by an
Order under the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act after
April 30 of that year. For the four years 1896 to 1899
Argentine fat cattle imported into English markets had
averaged 80,000 head ; sheep, 380,000 ; and the sudden cessa-
tion of these considerable imports had, of course, a dislocating
effect for the time upon the various industries at the export
end, also causing much embarrassment to the cattle salesmen
and " carcass butchers " in Great Britain. The shippers in
the United States in the following year increased their
despatches of live cattle and sheep heavily. In 1903, from
March 1 to June 13, British ports were again opened to Argen-
tine live stock, and 110,000 animals were shipped in that
period. Great pressure had been brought to bear upon the
Government to take this step, which, however, in the opinion
of practical persons, was unwise. Upon the discovery of foot-
and-mouth disease in cattle sent to South Africa and Great
Britain, the ports were again closed, and, taking all things into
consideration, it is doubtful if they will ever be again opened
to Argentine live stock.

The high-water mark of the importation of live stock from
all countries for slaughter in British markets was, for cattle,

76 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

643,000 head, in 1890, and for sheep, 1,056,000, in 1895.
The dead meat trade, preferable in every way, has forged
ahead steadily, and imports of North American live stock will
probably soon be a thing of the past.

Although the above remarks are somewhat of a digression,
it is well to place on record the circumstances which led to the
stoppage of the Argentine live stock exports to Great Britain.
This undoubtedly placed the frigorifico men in a stronger
position — it gave them cheaper stock to buy at home and an
expanded market in Great Britain. Frozen meat production
increased by leaps and bounds ; the export in 1900 to Great
Britain was 76,338 tons, and in 1903 this had grown to 131,000
tons. The triennial period, 1901 to 1903, Dr. Berges (of the
national bacteriological institute of Buenos Aires, the
chronicler of the records of Argentina's meat export industry)
terms Argentina's " golden age of the freezing industry." It
was so, indeed, to the shareholders of the three companies pre-
viously mentioned, which still held undisputed possession in
1902. Not alone was the cessation of Argentine live stock
shipments to Great Britain in their favour ; drought in Aus-
tralia crippled meat exporters there, the war in South Africa
attracted meat imports, and labour troubles in New York and
Chicago reduced North American live and dead meat exports.
Never was so favourable a group of factors present in one year,
and it was these circumstances which led to the establishment
of other freezing concerns in the Argentine.

River Plate Fresh Meat Co., Ltd.
To revert to the earliest days, the commercial beginning of
the great Argentine meat industry was the shipment by the
s.s. Meaih of 7,500 frozen sheep from the Campana works of the
River Plate Fresh Meat Co., Ltd., in 1883, an enterprise
which owed its inception to the late Mr. G. W. Drabble. [The
date of the earliest attempt (experimental) to export Argentine
frozen meat was about the year 1877, when the salting factory
" San Luis," in San Nicolas, shipped trial lots in the holds of
the s.s. Le Frigoriftque and Paraguay, repeating the experiment
by the s.s. Teviotdale in 1882.]

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To faff f. 76.

THE SOUTH AMI HICAN FRIGORIFICOS 77

Originally the River Plate Fresh Meat Co. was promoted for
the freezing, shipping to England, and sale there of Argentine
sheep, but gradually, as the business advanced, the freezing of
beef was i-oinmenreil, and from the year IS'.M; onward.- tin-
export of both rapidly developed. The weight of the beef
shipped by the River Plate Fresh Meat Co. soon exceeded that
of mutton. The company's shipments of mutton and beef
from the commencement of the business (1883) to 1910, twenty-
eight years, totalled 14,141,588 carcasses of mutton and lamb,
1,440,595 quarters of chilled and 2,178,987 quarters of frozen
beef. The first shipment of mutton was despatched to London
on November 23, 1883, the carcasses averaging 38 Ibs.

The Campana works are fitted with very complete plant and
machinery for dealing with the various by-products arising out
of the business, and improvements and additions are being
made constantly. The chilling and freezing plant is capable
of dealing with 800 cattle and 3,000 sheep per day. This is a
great contrast to the early equipment of the works, as originally
the plant consisted of a small engine room, cold storage cham-
bers, two digestors, and a slaughter pen. All the work was then
manual. The offal was given away or destroyed. It was not
till 1884 that beef freezing was started in Argentina : frozen
beef and pork were shipped that year, and in 1886 the first
lambs were despatched. The River Plate Fresh Meat Co. also
established a plant at Column, Uruguay, with the idea of ship-
ping from the two works, but the enterprise did not pay, and
the machinery was removed in 1888.

The company's first engineer and manager in the Plate was
Mr. John Angus, and a large portion of the present complete
and splendid works at Campana grew up under his manage-
ment. In 1893 he went to Buenos Aires to act as manager of
the company, and held the position till 1905, when he retired.
In 1899 Mr. G. W. Drabble died, and Mr. (now Sir) Henry
Bell became chairman, a position he held for three years, his
successor being Mr. Charles Drabble, who was in turn followed
by Mr. John A. Wood as chairman, Mr. Drabble remaining a
director. Mr. Wood had been manager and secretary in
London ever since the company began operations, Mr. Sidney

78 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

Young, who has been with the company since 1884, succeed-
ing him in that capacity. The London offices of the company
are at Cecil House, Holborn Viaduct, E.G.

The following notes concerning the establishment and
development of the works at Campana of the River Plate
Fresh Meat Co. are furnished by Mr. Wood : —

" The River Plate Fresh Meat Co.'s freezing works in the
Argentine were at Campana, on the river Parana, about sixty
miles above Buenos Aires. The initiation and development of
an entirely new trade was naturally surrounded with diffi-
culties, and if it had not been for the ability and resource of the
then chairman of the company, Mr. George W. Drabble, who
initiated and brought out the company, and also for the support
he received from the leading shareholders, the company would
undoubtedly have succumbed in the early years of its existence.
In spite of difficulties, the company gradually developed, and
is now one of the largest exporters of meat and relative by-
products from the Argentine. According to the figures given
at the annual general meeting in March, 1910, the imports
over the twelve months ending December 31, 1909, were just
50,000 tons, and a further increase was mentioned as probable
for 1910. The handling, shipping, and distributing, either
retail or wholesale, of these quantities of meat and by-products
involve necessarily a large organization, which organization has
been specially built up to meet the requirements of the
company's trade.

" Chilled beef was, as the result of long experiments carried
out by the River Plate Fresh Meat Co., actually shipped by the
company on a large scale in the year 1901. The develop-
ment of this chilled beef business, which was first successfully
carried out by the company, has been a great factor in the
development of the Argentine trade, and was rendered possible
by the improvement in cattle stocks in the Argentine, which
enterprising estancieros had been carrying out for some years.
This improvement in cattle and sheep stocks has been continued,
and the supplies of good -class cattle and sheep available for
export are greater now than at any time.

" The system on which the River Plate Fresh Meat Co. has

THE SOUTH AMERICAN FRIGORIFICOS 70

been worked has been for the company to control and work
with their own men the whole business as far as possible, from
the buying of the live stock in the Plate, and its shipment,
to the delivery to the retailers or consumers, the aim all
through having been to meet as far as was practicable the
consumers' requirements, and the control of the company
being in the hands of those who were acquainted with what
was required on this side enabled that object to be fairly well
attained.

" So far as my personal part is concerned, I have from my
position had to initiate, supervise, and control the various
developments of the company's business, and the successful
carrying out of the work has only been possible owing to the
assistance of a most capable staff both in the Plate and on this
side. I have, of course, paid many visits to the Argentine in
connection with the business of the company.

" I may, perhaps, mention that in the earlier days of the
River Plate Fresh Meat Co. the development of the industry —
especially in the mutton trade— was handicapped by the
quality in those days of the stock purchased in the Argentine
being inferior to what was obtainable at the same time in New
Zealand and Australia. In recent years, however, the quality
of the Argentine stock leaves little to be desired."

The San Nicolas Works.

Contemporaneously with the formation of the English River
Plate Fresh Meat Co., Mr. Eugenic Terrasson established meat
works at San Nicolas on the Parana river. His first shipment
was despatched in 1883 in the Loch Ard, and was composed of
hindquarters of mutton, a Bell-Coleman machine being installed
on t he vessel. In 1884 Mr. Terrasson brought out the prospectus
of La Compania de Carnes Congeladas, capital $250,000, gold.
There is no precise record of the actual formation of this com-
pany. The San Nicolas frigorifico worked without inter-
ruption till 1898.

Dr. Pierre Berges recorded in a pamphlet published in 1908
that the San Nicolas works had a frontage of 115 metres and

80 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

occupied an area of upwards of 4 hectares. The depth of the
river was sufficient to allow of the loading of the frozen meat
into a liner straight from the refrigerating chambers. In 1890,
he adds, " this frozen meat warehouse had three large cold
chambers, able to contain each 4,000 frozen sheep. In 1898
it had preserved 163,103 sheep, and to-day it is to be sold for
£50,000."

Thus far Dr. Berges ; but harking back to 1895, when the
works had been shut up for some time and were under mortgage,
three English houses became interested in the property,
Messrs. W. and R. Fletcher, Ltd., the Liverpool Cold Storage
and Ice Co., Ltd., and Mr. Hudson, the Newcastle shipowner,
taking over the works. About 1898 the works were let to the
three Argentine frozen meat companies, the River Plate Co.,
Sansinena's, and James Nelson and Sons, for a minimum period
of five years, at a rental equivalent to 15 per cent, on the paid-
up 'capital of £40,000, viz., £6,000 per annum. These com-
panies promptly shut up the frigorifico, which was not operated
after that date. Since 1903, when the agreement expired,
the land, plant, and machinery have belonged to Messrs.
W. and R. Fletcher, Ltd.

In 1884 La Congeladora Argentina was founded by the
Argentine Rural Society to export frozen meat. The capital
was $1,000,000 paper. In 1885 the first shipment of 1,000
cattle and 10,000 sheep was made from Zarate. Dr. Pierre
Berges says that the society did not prosper, and it lost all its
paid-up capital.

James Nelson and Sons, Ltd.

In 1886 Mr. Hugh Nelson, a partner in James Nelson and Sons
(a firm of cattle salesmen in Liverpool, Dublin, Manchester, and
London, founded in the early Victorian era, the partners being
the late Mr. James Nelson and Messrs. William [the present
baronet], Hugh, and Edward Nelson), went out to Argentina
and built Las Palmas freezing works at Zarate. A company
was formed called Nelson's River Plate Meat Co., and in 1889
this as changed to Nelson's (New) River Plate Meat Co., with an

THE SOUTH AMERICAN FRIGORIFICOS 81

extension of capital. In 1892 the company of James Nelson and
Sons, Ltd., was registered in England to amalgamate the busi-
nesses of Nelson's (New) River Plate Meat Co. and James Nelson
and Sons. In 1803 the Las Palmas Produce Co., Ltd. was regis-
tered in Argentina. This is the South American section of
James Nelson and Sons, Ltd., who hold all the shares. These
various concerns were based on the Zarate frigorifico and the
business proceeding therefrom. Sir William Nelson in 1904
retired from the joint managing directorship, held with
Mr. Edward Nelson, of James Nelson and Sons, Ltd., this
position now being held jointly by Messrs. Edward Nelson
and T. C. Nelson. The Zarate works cover 168 acres, and the
pasturages and lairages nearly 3,000 acres. The slaughter
yards are capable of dealing with 1,000 cattle, 5,000 sheep, and
250 pigs a day, and the refrigerating chambers, which altogether
number 70, have a total capacity equal to 7,000 cattle, 90,000
sheep, and 2,000 pigs. Principally, Linde refrigerating
machinery is installed, and the plant which was provided in
1907 to deal with pork products alone cost £40,000. Mr. Philip
Holmes has been secretary to James Nelson and Sons, Ltd.,
and the earlier company since 1889. The London office of the
company is at 57, Charterhouse Street, E.G.

Compania Sansincna de Games Congeladas.

The well-known and popular brand of frozen meat in English
markets marked S represents the outturn of the Compania
Sansinena de Carnes Congeladas, popularly styled in England
the Sansinena Co. Messrs. S. G. Sansinena and Co. had a boiling-
down works at Barracas al Sud in the early eighties, and in
1885 they erected a freezing plant on the site of the present
La Negra works, and began to export mutton to Great Britain.
'Hi'- business continued, at first on a small scale, until 1890, by
which time Messrs. Sansinena were shipping 25,000 sheep and
lambs a month. In 1891 the business was turned into a com-
pany under Argentine law, headquarters in Buenos Aires, with
a capital of 20,000 shares of $100 (gold). The original board
was : Ernesto Tornquist (president), Robert M. Ramsay,

r.M. o

82 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

Samuel H. Pearson, Santiago Luro, and Francisco Sansinena
(managing director). The first shipments to England were
made to Messrs. James Nelson and Sons, and in January, 1887,
Messrs. Sansinena established themselves in Liverpool, their
London office being opened in 1888. The success of the San-
sinena Co. is a high tribute to the sagacity of the directors and
the excellent management of the Buenos Aires and European
managers. Mr. Miles Pasman, who has lately retired from the
Board of Directors, contributed very largely to the success of
the company by his capable and vigorous administration in the
position of managing director. The late Mr. William Cook held
the position of general manager for Europe from 1887 to 1904,
and the late general manager for Europe, Mr. John J. Ward —
who retired in 1910 — was in the New Zealand frozen meat
business in 1884 and joined the Sansinena Co. in 1887. Mr. W.
Dyson Barnitt is now the European general manager, and Mr.
A. G. Rose is secretary of the London office, Nos. 13-16, Long
Lane, West Smithfield, E.G.

The Sansinena Co. has always had far-reaching aims ; during
the period from 1891 to 1899 it did a considerable export
business in frozen meat with France, where it had depots at
Havre, Dunkirk, and Paris. The prohibitive duty and regula-
tions imposed in 1899, however, brought this to a conclusion.
Brazil was also selected for trial, and shipments were made
there, but without startling success. In 1902, following the
splendid financial trading results, the company built new works
at Cuatreros (Bahia Blanca). In 1905 Belgium was attacked,
but the campaign was no more successful than in France. In
this connection the following extract from the Review of the
River Plate of January 1, 1909, is of interest : —

" In the matter of destination of frozen meat exports, Great
Britain continues to be practically our only client. South
African trade has dwindled down to 35,662 quarters of beef and
10,804 carcasses of mutton (1908)."

In 1906 the " Sansinena Distributing Syndicate, Ltd.," was
formed with a capital of £200,000, of which £125,000 was paid
up, the Sansinena Co. contributing £50,000. This concern ran
shops in the chief centres of South Africa, but the depression

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HIE SOUTH AMERICAN FRIGORIFICOS 83

which hung over those Colonies must have set the distri-
IH n ing company a heavy task. The Sansinena Co. has a very
extensive establishment in the United Kingdom : it has
warehouses, stores, or offices in London, Dublin, Glasgow,
Cardiff, Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Bristol,
Leeds, Hull, Sheffield, Leicester, Burton, Wolverhampton,
and Derby.

A recent enterprise on the part of the Sansinena Co. is
the outbidding of Messrs. Swift early in 1911 for the pur-
chase of the Frigorifica Uruguaya. The Sansinena Co. paid
£300,000, or £10,000 more than the price offered by Swift's, for
this undertaking, which is described later on in this chapter.
The capital of the Sansinena Co. was in 1911 increased from
$3,000,000 gold to $4,500,000 gold, this being for the purpose
of the Uruguaya purchase.

Twentieth Century Companies.

Reference has been made to Argentina's " golden year,"

1902. It was then that the estancieros, aghast at the spectacle
of the frigorificos making their 50 to 100 per cent, profit, natu-
rally came to the conclusion that they would take a hand at the
game themselves. La Socie^ Anonyme de Viandes Congelees
La Blanca was founded by Argentine capitalists in 1902 at
Buenos Aires, almost all the proprietors being leading estan-
cieros. The capital was fixed at £300,000 ; the works are
situated on the river Riachuelo, and operations were begun in

1903. In 1908 the works were taken over by the American
Trust companies for £340,000. In the same year the Cuatreros
factory, erected by the Sansinena Co. as a second string at
Bahia Blanca, was set going. The next freezing works to be
started was that constructed at the port of La Plata by the La
Plata Cold Storage Co. The establishment of the La Plata works
at Puerto La Plata, excellently situated on deep water, was
brought about in this way. There was some difficulty in getting
full supplies of frozen meat about 1902 — 1903 for South African
requirements. Australia was out of the trade at that time
owing to the drought, and the Sansinena and other Argentine

o 2

84 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

companies would not undertake to sell at all freely, fearing
to interfere with their connection in England. The Imperial
Cold Storage Co. had a concession placed before it of the site at
La Plata by Messrs. Zavala and Co., of Buenos Aires, Mr. Daniel
Kingsland, Mr. Joseph Moore, etc., just at this time, and the
company closed with the offer. Works and plant were erected,
and the system of business established largely on lines suggested
by Mr. John Cooke, of Melbourne, and Messrs. W. Weddel and
Co., of London. But when the La Plata works got into working
order the imported meat trade in South Africa was dying, and
so the exports were directed to England. The system of
selling c.i.f. to London was practised and developed, but the
Imperial Cold Storage Co., having no longer any interest in this
trade, wished to sell, and so it came about that these works
passed in 1907 into the hands of Swift's, of Chicago, for
£350,000, thus marking the beginning of a great revolution
in the frozen meat trade. As the head office of the company
was always at Cape Town, it is permissible to call La Plata
a British company.

The Smithfield and Argentine Meat Co. was formed in 1903
with a capital of £200,000, the shares being distributed amongst
English and Argentine capitalists, some leading Smithfield
Market men subscribing to the enterprise. The freezing
establishment is near Zarate, and work was started on
February 24, 1905. This company, which mainly exports
chilled beef, includes amongst its directors, Messrs. Assheton
Leaver (W. and J. Biggerstaff), chairman, and P. J. Poels.
The London office is at 58, West Smithfield, E.G.

Next we come to a purely Argentine company, the Frigorifico
Argentine, the capital of which, £250,000, was put up entirely
by local people. Operations were begun in June, 1905, the
works being on the river Riachuelo. The success of this
company in the chilled beef trade has been most marked,
the uniformly good condition in which its consignments are
landed giving it a strong hold on the retail trade. Mr. S.
McC. Rough is manager for the United Kingdom of this
company, which has its London offices at 40 — 44, Holborn
Viaduct, E.G.

THE SOUTH AMERICAN FRIGORIFICOS sr,

Evolution of Argentine Mutton.

A word is not out of place here as to the evolution of the
class of mutton exported from Argentina's frigorificos.

At the time when meat freezing in Argentina was started,
the sheep offering were very unpromising for the industry. The
merino was the national sheep, though a few South Down
animals had been introduced in 1825, and the Lincoln Long-
wool was imported with great success several decades later.
But merino mutton was shipped by the freezing companies for
years after the beginning of the exporting business, and the
pioneers were much handicapped in selling such an inferior
article against the well-grown, meaty, New Zealand carcass.
On referring to some of the old London price lists, one
notes that in 1884 New Zealand mutton was quoted at 3s. to
3s. 4d. per stone, whilst River Plate was priced at 2s. to 2s. 8d.
From the same source of information it appears that in 1886
(June) a considerable improvement both in breed and condition
was observed by London salesmen in the latter class of mutton.
The necessity to improve upon the lean, light-carcassed,
merino sheep in order to put up a serious competition with
New Zealand cross-bred mutton in Smithfield was no doubt
a considerable factor in the bettering of the estancieros' flocks
in Argentina by a beginning being made in the great import
trade in high-class rams from British pedigree flocks.

Other South American Contributors.

Argentina, though the principal, is by no means the only
frozen meat exporting State of South America. British
territory in the South Atlantic — the Falkland Islands — did
a considerable business for some years ; Uruguay contributes
frozen mutton, lamb, and beef, to the needs of Great Britain ;
and down at the southern tip of South America there are a
couple of freezing works on the Straits of Magellan, both in
Chilian territory. Venezuela is the latest South American
principality to enter the trade.

To detail first the connection of the Falkland Islands with
the industry, it may be said that the Falkland Islands Co.

86 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

entered the field in 1886 with a shipment of 30,000 sheep in the
steamer Selembria. The vessel arrived at London on July 15,
1886, and she delivered two other lots, 45,000 carcasses, in 1887.
The sheep were about 64 Ibs., " rather lean." When first
offered, the mutton made 4|c£. to 5\d. per lb., or about }d.
under the price of New Zealand mutton. Later, the Falkland
Islands mutton made a lower average market price, 3\d. to
5%d. per lb. It was understood that these shipments were
disastrous in every way. It is said that 7s. 6d. in the £
of the capital embarked was lost.

After these three shipments the Falkland Islands Co. dropped
out, and Messrs. Spearing and Waldron took up the running.
The Waldrons had been connected with sheep breeding in
the Falklands from the earliest times. The firm chartered the
Hengist, a sailing ship of about 1,500 tons, which had been
engaged in the New Zealand frozen meat trade. This vessel
made her first trip in 1890, and continued to bring a shipment
yearly till 1895 ; in her six voyages the vessel conveyed about
100,000 carcasses. The Hengist loaded and froze sheep at two
ports, San Carlos on the east and Port Howard on the west.
Two lifeboats were lashed together and a platform was put on
them both. The mutton was placed on this and transferred
thence to the 'tween decks of the ship and frozen on board ;
then it was stowed below and shipped at intervals. Some
of the shipments sold fairly well, but the sheep were too
big and coarse for Smithfield buyers, and the lack of grading
told against them — the mutton could not compete with that
from New Zealand. The net return to the farmers was about
Id. to l|d. per lb., 5s. to 7s. per head. If 20,000 sheep could
have been got at one port, the enterprise, it is said, would have
paid. Messrs. Spearing and Waldron shipped on their own
account, and also as agents for some of the farmers who preferred
to consign and take their own risk. On the last two trips of the
Hengist some of the meat was transhipped to the s.s. Hornby
Grange. The end of the Falkland Islands frozen meat trade
was the wreck of the Hengist in the Straits of Magellan. The
trade, as above described, lasted from 1886 to 1895, and in all
169,973 sheep were frozen and shipped to London. The

THE SOUTH AMERICAN FRIGORIFICOS 87

Falkland Islands frozen sheep first shipped were too old. Two
gentlemen, Messrs. Windsor and Wolff, were mainly responsible
for the Falkland Islands mutton export business in the early
days.

Another start was made by the Straits of Magellan Frozen
Meat Co. in 1896, Messrs. Spearing and Waldron being largely
interested in that company. The sailing ship Oneida was
dismantled and turned into a freezing hulk in the Straits of
Magellan, and is still there. Shipments of mutton from
Patagonia, frozen on this hulk at Punta Delgada, were made to
London in the Grange Line boats in 1896, 1897, and 1899 —
70,000 carcasses in all. As a matter of fact, the Falkland
Islands and Patagonian mutton was never much fancied
at Smithfield. One shipment in 1895, according to the market
circulars of that year, went as low as 2fd. to 3d. per Ib.

The third stage of meat freezing for export in this part of
the world was reached with the establishment of freezing works
at Rio Seco in 1905. The works are situated on the northern
shore of the Straits of Magellan, ten miles east of Punta Arenas,
which is 80 miles from the mouth of the Straits. The pro-
prietors are the South American Export Syndicate, in which
Messrs. Houlder Brothers and Birt and Co. are largely interested.
The first shipment of frozen meat was made in April, 1905.
The mutton and lamb come under the " Shell " brand.
The London office is at 102, Fenchurch Street, E.G.

On December 27, 1906, a number of ranch owners and mer-
chants met and resolved to erect a freezing works at Puerto
Sara, San Gregorio, on the Chilian side of the Straits of
Magellan, 60 miles east of the Rio Seco works. They put up
£39,000, and a month later the Compania Frigorifica de Pata-
gonia was formed, the head office being in Punta Arenas.
The ranchers of Gallegos were asked to join, but they
declined. Haslam's refrigerating machinery was installed
in the building, the foundation stone of which was laid
at San Gregorio by Don Pedro Montt, President of Chili, on
February 25, 1907, and the works were completed on Feb-
ruary 20, 1908. The president of the company was Mr. Rodolfo
Stubcnrauch, and the other directors were Messrs. Alejandro

88 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

Menendez, Pablo Van Peborgh, Luis Bonvalot, and Mr. Frank
H. Townsend, the works manager being Mr. David Anderson.
The paid-up capital of the company is £65,000. The
average output for the season is about 150,000 carcasses. The
shipping season of these Straits of Magellan works is extremely
short, February to May, as stock cannot be moved in winter.

It does not require much imagination to picture the whole
of the Atlantic seaboard from Monte Video — possibly from the
Venezuelan coast — to Magellan Straits dotted with freezing
works for the provision of meat for the Old World. At
present there is a wide gap between Bahia Blanca, where
the southernmost freezing works (Sansinena's) in Argentina
is placed, and the two works on the northern shore
of Magellan Straits (Chili). But this gap of a thousand
miles will doubtless be bridged by-and-by. Port Madryn is
a rising settlement on the Patagonian coast, and at Puerto
Gallegos (lat. 51° S.), just opposite the Falkland Islands, there
are canning works, founded in 1898, owned by the Patagonian
Meat Preserving Co., of London. A freezing plant was added,
and the Puerto Gallegos frigorifico, under the name of the New
Patagonia Meat and Cold Storage Co., Ltd., is expected to
begin operations shortly. A fair number of sheep are avail-
able between this point and the mouth of the Santa Cruz
river, about 100 miles farther north. With the development
of the railway system over the Patagonian portion of
the Argentine Republic, and the movement of the sheep
farmers north from the districts of Punta Arenas (the
region talked of as being full of millionaires), and south from
Argentina proper over the river Negro, conversation with men
who know the country leads one to believe that sooner or later
there will be works right up the coast. The difficulty lies in
the dryness of the climate of Patagonia — the rainfall is small.
Including three canning works — one in Tierra del Fuego —
there are in all five companies in Patagonia preparing mutton
for export.

La Frigorifica Uruguaya, which was formed in 1902, had
an original capital of $500,000 gold, later increased to
$700,000 (£140,000). The promoter and first chairman was

tl

THE SOUTH AMERICAN FRIGORIFICOS H«I

Seflor Manuel Lessa, a prominent financier. Slaughtering
was started in December, 1904, and the first shipment of
frozen meat was despatched to London in the s.s. Sussex in
March, 1005. The works are fitted throughout with modern
appliances, and Lande ammonia compression refrigerating
machinery is driven by triple expansion Sulzer steam engines.
The original capacity of the works was for the production of
50 tons per day, and storage of 1,000 tons, but during the
1909 season the works were extended, and can now produce
120 tons daily, with a storage capacity of over 2,000 tons.
In 1910 the company paid 12 per cent, dividend. As mentioned
above, this frigorifico was purchased in 1911 for £300,000 by
the Compania Sansinena, and is now being doubled in capacity.
Uruguay may foe expected to be exploited vigorously in the
interests of cattle freezing. The Review of the River Plate
states that " The statutes of the new frigorifico ' Frigorifico
Montevideo,' have been approved, the capital being two
million pesos, but the company may commence operations
when 400,000 pesos have been subscribed."

Beef from Venezuela.

The Venezuelan frozen meat venture, begun in 1910,
geographically belongs to this South American chapter. The
works at Puerto Cabcllo, from which ^the s.s. Star of Victoria
took the first shipment of frozen beef on August 7, 1910,
7,121 quarters (400 tons), are in the latitude 10° N. One
would think that peculiar difficulties surrounded the prepara-
tion of frozen meat in such a torrid clime ; probably the only
other freezing works in the world matching the Venezuelan
one for tropical situation is the establishment of the Queens-
land Meat Export Company at Townsville, 19° S. The
proprietors of the Venezuelan plant are the Venezuelan Meat
and Products Syndicate, Ltd., domiciled at 16, Finsbury Circus,
London, E.C. It appears that the cattle available for
slaughter at Puerto Cabello can be frozen with profit to meet
the special demands for beef from small-boned, light-weight
beasts for the northern markets of England. The beef will

90 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

be shipped mainly to Liverpool, for distribution in the
Manchester, Liverpool, and Glasgow districts. Probably these
cattle — which have so far been killed for hides and fat, in the
absence of demand — are bought cheaply, and the beef will, no
doubt, prove useful as a secondary quality article. It is
expected that a great improvement in the available fat stock
will result from using for grazing purposes the vast cattle
plains of the Orinoco. The hides and offal will be brought
over to Liverpool to be worked up ; 1,000 tons of beef can
be shipped about every ten weeks. The works are now in
full working order, and chilled beef from them occasionally
comes to Smithfield market vid Southampton.

Three Distinguished Argentine Statesmen.

In the development of Argentina's rural economy, agricul-
ture, and pastoral progress, there are three names that stand
out pre-eminently, and seeing that without the great pastoral
resources of Argentina the meat freezing industry of the
country could never have reached its present stage, some
account of the efforts of these three men is not out of place
here. These are the late Don Eduardo Olivera, and — still
happily with us — Don Exequiel Hamos Mexia, and Dr. Emilio
Frers.

Don Eduardo Olivera, who passed away in September, 1910,
was born of a family of estancieros eighty-four years ago.
Having completed his university career, he travelled, as a
young man, through Europe, studying in various countries the
science and practice of rural economy. Returning to his
country more than half a century ago, he speedily made his
mark both in the Press and in political circles by his intelli-
gent and stimulating campaign for the improvement of agricul-
tural and pastoral methods. This was at a time when the
majority of landowners heard with indifference any proposi-
tions for the improvement of their live stock and better cultiva-
tion of their land. Production was limited to wool, jerked
beef, hides, and tallow. Wheat was then, and for many years
subsequently, imported into the country.

In 1866 Olivera achieved the work with which for all time

THE SOI Til AMKIUCAN I KKiORIFICOS 91

his name will be moat associated, by founding the Argentine
Rural Society, which may now claim to be the most important
institution of its class in the world. At first secretary, and
wards president, of this society, Olivera was for many
years its most active member, and had the honour of being
elected its honorary president for life. Amongst many other
public offices held by him, he was Postmaster-General, Deputy,
Senator, and interim Governor of the State of Buenos Aires,
and during all his life held a prominent position in the affairs
of his country. As a pastoralist, Olivera was a well-known
breeder of merino sheep, and formed by selection a type called
the " Argentine merino." Outstanding from all his work for
the nation's welfare, the offices he so honourably filled, and his
contributions to rural legislation and progress, there rises the
man himself , whose virtuous life and sixty years of disinterested
service to his country will remain a tradition and an example
for future generations. Genial in manner and simple in his life,
he was beloved of all, and no surname was necessary to
individualize the man who was known throughout his country
as " Don Eduardo."

Senor Exequiel Ramos Mexia, the member of a patrician
Buenos Aires family, is at the present time the national Minister
of Public Works, and in that office, which he has held through
two Presidencies, he is displaying the same intelligence and
statecraft that have marked him in the various offices he has
held related to the country's rural economy. For many years
president of the Argentine Rural Society, twice Minister of
Agriculture, president and presiding genius of the drainage
works of the Province of Buenos Aires (the drainage, at a cost
of three-and-a-half millions sterling, of sixteen million acres
of rich land subject more or less to inundation, and probably
the greatest undertaking of its nature in the world) : it is not
possible in a brief space to enumerate the many services to
Argentina's rural industry for which the country is indebted
to Senor Ramos Mexia.

The Sanitary Law regarding contagious diseases in animals
was initiated and carried through by him, and many improve-
ments in the handling of live stock in transit and inspection of

92 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

meat for export are associated with his name. On his own fine
estate of Miraflores he is a breeder of Shire horses, pedigree
Shorthorn cattle, and Lincoln sheep ; the organization there
and intelligent cultivation of the land are a reflection of the
ability and thoroughness he displays in public affairs. Sefior
Ramos Mexia is an admirer of the British and their commercial
methods, and includes among his personal friends more than
one distinguished statesman of that nationality. Like many
of his countrymen, he has put aside the personal convenience
afforded by his private fortune and condition, to give his
services to his country.

Dr. Emilio Frers is the son of one of the first presidents of
the Argentine Rural Society, and has himself held that office
twice. Perhaps the best illustration of the esteem in which he
is held is the incident that occurred when the portfolio of
Agriculture was first added to the Cabinet. General Roca was
at that time President of the Republic, and Dr. Frers belonged
to the opposite political party. General Roca drove to his
house to tell him that the country's interests were above party
politics, and that he had come to the man recognized by all as
the right citizen to organize the new Ministry and be the first
Secretary of State for Agriculture. Dr. Frers accepted, and
fully justified the choice that had been made.

Dr. Frers is an able economist, a gifted writer, and a citizen
whose integrity has won for him universal esteem. His last
office was that of president of the Centennial International
Exhibition of Agriculture held in Buenos Aires. He has
given much of his time to the welfare of the small agricul-
turist, the labourer, and the immigrant. He would not inaptly
be described as the Cobden of Argentina. Essentially a citizen
with an austere though kindly view of the duties of life, he
does not court publicity, and, as he once remarked, his con-
nection with each office he held began by his first refusing it.
On his estancia " La Estrella," where he breeds Hereford cattle
and merino sheep, he is beloved by his men ; and it is there,
surrounded by his family and his books, taking his share in the
modest county council of the district, that he is happiest.

CHAPTER VI

IMPROVING FLOCKS AND HERDS IN THE SOUTHERN
HEMISPHERE

Evolution of Mutton Sheep in Australasia.— Pedigree sheep
were imported into New Zealand quite early to improve the
wool. The Border Leicester, English Leicester, Cheviot,
and various types of Down rams imported, crossed with
the merinos from the stations, established the type from
which " prime Canterbury " meat was obtained. In 1892, ten
years after the meat export trade was started, the sheep men
in the Colony were working on well-defined lines as regards
crossbreeding. The sheep in the Colony numbered 18,000,000,
8,000,000 in the North Island, and 10,000,000 in the South.
Of this number there were 6,000,000 merinos, and the crossbred
sheep were estimated as follow : Lincoln and crosses, 5,750,000,
Border Leicester, and English Leicester and crosses, 3,000,000,
Romney Marsh and crosses, 1,150,000, and Shropshire, South-
down and crosses, 1,500,000. The various English breeds were
used in New Zealand according to the nature of the country,
class of wool, fat lamb export, and the ideas of the breeders
themselves. The question of the most saleable weight of the
mutton carcass had to be considered. When the trade began
in 1882, carcasses averaging 80 Ibs. were worth over 6d. per lb.,
but by 1892 the most acceptable weight at Smithfield was 55 Ibs.
to 60 Ibs. ; it is now 48 to 56 Ibs. The first cross out of a
merino ewe by an English ram was the most suitable meat in
London. As a general rule, the New Zealand sheep breeders
inclined to the use of the Lincoln ram when they desired to
raise the standard of their flocks as regards weight of fleece,
and to the English Leicester and Shropshire if the carcass
wanted improving.

In Otago, it may be said, there has been less change in
sheep breeding of late years than in any other part of the
Dominion. The Border Leicester, Romney, and Lincoln, and

94 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

their crosses, are still to be found in all parts. On back-
country stations there is a more extended use of the Corriedale.
The Corriedale was established in the first instance by crossing
the merino with the Lincoln or Leicester ram. The produce
were carefully culled, and these " in-bred half-bred " sheep
were bred from until the breed became well fixed. The
Corriedale is now a well established breed in New Zealand.
The merino was only suitable for hilly or very dry country,
and the wool from the English breed was found coarse.

The Downs have not made much headway, though the
Shropshire maintains its position in front of the Southdown. In
Canterbury the popular breed of sheep is the English Leicester.
The Lincoln has almost disappeared, and the Romney has still
only a few supporters. The Corriedale has considerably
increased in numbers on the front hills in the northern district.
Persons interested in this subject are referred to a pamphlet
issued in 1899 by the Christchurch Press on " Sheep Breeding in
New Zealand."

In New Zealand crossbreeding is largely a question of lamb
production. In Australia no great revolution from the
original merino type of sheep has taken place, such as has
occurred in New Zealand and Argentina. The frozen mutton
from Australia is still largely from merino stock ; Australian
mutton is sold as " merino and/or crossbred," to quote from
a form of contract. All New Zealand mutton and lamb
shipped to Great Britain are from crossbred sheep, and so are
practically all Argentine.

Systematic tests have been conducted in Australia to dis-
cover the best cross for fat lamb raising. The general results
of these experiments seem to point to the Shropshire-Leicester
merino cross as producing the best results, though crosses with
the Dorset-Leicester merino worked out almost as well. At
twelve weeks old lambs from the first-named cross weighed
62 Ibs., and from the other cross GO Ibs.

Mr. Grigg's Communication. — To elucidate this subject the
authors asked Mr. J. C. N. Grigg, of Longbeach, New Zealand,
to place on record his views concerning the evolution of the
mutton sheep in New Zealand.

JOHN ..M..... Of LOMOBXACfl, vsi- n\*. M V ll K F.BECTED TO HIS MEMmiV Al AMIHfKl»N.

TV face it. '.'4.

IMPROVING FLOCKS AND HERDS 95

" At the beginning of the freezing industry in New Zealand,"
writes Mr. (iriirir, " the country had largf numbers of four, six,
and eight tooth wethers, kept simply for their wool ; the bulk
of them were merino and first cross in the South Island and
Lincoln and Romney Marsh in the North Island. The ' first
cross ' was really a cross between the English Leicester ram
and merino ewe, or the Lincoln ram and the merino ewe.
Before freezing started wool was the main profit, as the
profit from boiling down the surplus sheep was small and
prices for store sheep and fats ruled very low ; therefore
the whole returns of a man's property depended on the wool
and the increase in his stock, and even wool on the average was
lower about 1875 to 1881 than of late years.

" When freezing started, the English Leicester increased as
a stud sheep more than any other breed, because it was found
that the English Leicester-merino cross was the neatest and
best sheep for freezing. (The English Leicester is the same in
New Zealand to-day as it was when freezing started, though
the old type of English Leicester [a low-set, medium-sized sheep
of good quality] of forty or fifty years ago has disappeared in
England). A fairly large number of merino wethers were frozen
and shipped in the early days of freezing, but did not as a rule
leave much margin of profit, as merinos looked very dark in
colour, and sold at low prices compared with first and second
cross mutton ; the meat of the latter looking bright red and the
fat whiter than merino.

" The Border Leicester is a very fine sheep, but it is not a
breed that corrects want of shape and quality when crossed
with coarse breeds. It is rather liable to run away on the leggy
side. But the breed is a very useful one, and is used very
extensively in Southland and Otago, where a hardy and easily
fattened sheep is the first essential. A few South and Shrop-
shire Down flocks were in existence in Canterbury when freezing
started ; notably John Deans of Riccarton and Samuel Garforth
had South Down flocks, and my father had a flock of Shrop-
.^ hi res. The first cargo of frozen sheep and lambs which left
New Zealand in the sailing ship Dunedin in 1881 contained
some Down cross sheep and lambs.

96 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

" From 1890 the Shropshire was used very extensively, not so
much in the North Island as in Canterbury. My father was
one of the first Shropshire breeders in Canterbury, and I use the
breed now as well as Southdown on three-quarter-bred
Leicester and Romney ewes.

" The English Leicester ram on Romney Marsh ewes produces
a very useful sheep. If any lambs from this cross are not frozen
and are carried over for a year, the females make good mothers,
and the wethers are shapely and fatten readily as ' two-tooths '
after having cut a useful fleece ; the meat from the carcasses is
fairly bright. Where wool is thought more of than quality of
meat, the Lincoln ram is used on Romney ewes. The Romney
Marsh breed is the foundation stone of successful sheep farming
in most parts of the North Island of New Zealand.

" The Southdown is the most symmetrical sheep in the
world, and full of short, good quality meat. Now that the South
Island draws on the North Island for a large number of its
breeding ewes, mostly Romney Marsh cross, the Southdown is
rightly becoming more popular in Canterbury. The two
earliest breeders of Southdowns were Mr. John Deans, of
Riccarton, and Mr. Samuel Garforth, of Speydon. The breed-
ing ewes of Canterbury are neater and smaller-boned sheep, as
a rule, and carry finer fleeces, than North Island ewes. The
merino foundation is still in evidence in a large proportion of
the Canterbury flocks ; lambs from these ewes, fattened
on the short sweet pastures in a clear and rather dry
climate, make a model lamb in meat and weight for the
London market.

" Practically the whole sheep breed of the North Island flocks
are Romney Marsh cross ; the bulk of the ewes there are of this
cross. The Romney of to-day in New Zealand is not the fiddle-
headed sheep of thirty years ago, and it is undoubtedly a
profitable and popular breed. Full credit must be given to the
Romney Marsh breed for the large percentage of lambs reared
in the North Island under a heavy rainfall.

" A very fine good quality ram, either Southdown, English
Leicester, or Shropshire, is more necessary to-day in Canterbury
than ever it was, to give shape and finish to the freezing lamb,

IMPROVING FLOCKS AND HERDS 97

if we arc to keep up the old quality. For the reason that as
the merino owe becomes less and less in number, we lose on the
mother's side one of the main elements of our supremacy in
quality of meat. Thousands of acres of hill land that used to
carry merinos are now carrying * in-bred half-breds,' generally
called ' Corriedales,' most of them Lincoln-merino cross. The
first and by far the oldest, and I might almost say best, in-bred
half-bred flock is the one still in existence started by the New
Zealand and Australian Land Co. on the Levels, near Timaru.
Since the Levels was sold to the Government, the flock has
been carried on at Moraki. These sheep have proved on many
runs in Canterbury more profitable than merino flocks. Heavy
culling every year is necessary in this made breed between two
sheep so opposite in character as a Lincoln or Leicester ram
and a merino ewe. Ewes from the hill in-bred half-bred flocks
are now coming down on to the plains to be used as farmers'
breeding ewes for the lamb export trade, and taking the place
of the old half-bred English Leicester or Lincoln merino, the
latter, without doubt, one of the most beautiful sheep ever
produced for mutton and wool combined. As in-bred half-
breds in many cases are the mothers of the fat lambs to-day, it
is more necessary to use a very high-class Southdown, English
Leicester, or Shropshire ram to keep up the quality and shape
of the sheep.

" The New Zealand and Australian Land Co., and John
Little, of Waikari, North Canterbury, were amongst the first
breeders of in-bred half-breds, now named ' Corriedales.'
Many others are breeding in-bred half-breds to-day, notably
Sir George Clifford, of Stonehurst, whose flock is of Lincoln-
merino foundation.

" To-day the farmers of Canterbury find the lamb trade
much more profitable than mutton, as they get for a lamb five
to six months old the same price as they would get for a
wether if they kept him another year. Therefore, the bulk of
the stock in farmers' hands in Canterbury are breeding ewes.
The English Leicester is still the favoured sheep of Canterbury
for breeding fat lambs ; from this cross the lamb is of nice
quality, and the pick of the ewe lambs are kept for breeding.

P.M. H

98 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

Where farmers on heavy land mix grain growing with lamb
fattening, the Southdown or Shropshire is used, and all the
lambs are sent away fat. There is no doubt that from a
Romney, Lincoln, or Leicester cross ewe the Southdown half-
bred lamb is of the best freezing quality. Finally, no country
in the world has a finer record of natural increase in sheep per
annum ; with a total number of 23,000,000 sheep, New Zealand
in 1910 exported 1,968,254 sheep and 3,522,333 lambs (without
reducing her total very much), and fed her 1,000,000 inhabi-
tants at the same time. The total number of ewes bred from
were about 10,000,000. I believe the average percentage of
lambs reared is about 90 per cent., this shows clearly New
Zealand's splendid advantages as a pastoral country."

Argentine Imports of Pedigree Stock. — The improvement
of the flocks and herds in Argentina, rendered necessary for
the successful establishment and prosecution of an export trade
in meat, began at an early stage by the importation of pedigree
stock from Great Britain. Argentine buyers for many years
have been the great supporters of Great Britain's most flourish-
ing landed industry, pedigree stock breeding ; their determina-
tion in securing the best animals practically regardless of cost
and the extensive scale of their operations have resulted in a
vast improvement in the marketing stock slaughtered for the
frozen and chilled meat trades. In the thirty-one years,
1880 — 1910, Argentina imported from all countries for breeding
purposes 18,709 cattle and 77,505 sheep. From 1885 to 1908
an analysis of the imports from Great Britain gives 12,094
Durham cattle and 55,338 Lincoln sheep. It is not easy to
estimate the monetary value of these imports of pedigree stock,
but the figures, £70 per head for cattle, and £15 per head for
sheep, may be taken to represent the value realized very
approximately by British breeders for their exports. Applying
this valuation to the cattle and sheep exported from all countries
to the Argentine Republic for breeding purposes for the
period named above, the following totals — representing, roughly,
the f .o.b. values — are arrived at : —

Cattle .... 18,709 £1,309,630
Sheep . . . 77,505 £1,162,575

UWi

"KIIIV I.KIU.V . ii VMI-I..N." LINCOLN BAM (UK<;ISTKHEI> NO. 9722, VOLUMK 16).

H-iiry l>ii.|.lnii:. Hil>y <ir..\.-. lii iiii-l.y. on July 12, I1XW, to Mr. K. Mill«-r, whom- |«>rtn«it np|»Mir« li
•UoM Cobo, of KitUncia La Ifc-lcn. AlfMttML Tlic |>rif<- |«i«l. l,4>i XUIIHM<, wan thr lu»:li>->t rvrr pat<l t«r i
Ram ablpped to South America.

7l» fact p. 98.

IMI'HOVIV. PLOCKB AM) IIKltnS W

The average f.o.b. valuation <>t tho 5,618 pedigree bulls
shipped from the United Kingdom to Argentina from 1903 to
1009, inclusive, was £100 each. Tho figures of exports of
tish pedigree stock for the complete period 1880 — 1910 arc
not available, but the fact that British breeders exported 15,470
cattle and 71,359 sheep to the Republic from 1885 to 1910
(twenty-six years) shows what a preponderating share of the
business has fallen to them.

That the expenditure of these large sums by tho enterprising
Argentine estancieros has been remunerative no one can doubt
who is acquainted with the good quality of the beef and mutton
now imported into Great Britain from the Republic. In the export
beef trade the ideal to work up to is the marketing of chilled
beef, an article highly superior to frozen beef from a selling point
of view. That the managers of the Argentine frigorificos are
able to purchase cattle good enough for chilling may be placed
to the credit of the policy under which the estancieros and other
importers have since 1880 spent a sum approaching two and a
half millions sterling in improving the cattle stock of the country.
Reference is made in another chapter to the benefit to the
English and Scotch pedigree stock breeders which has accrued
by this demand from South America. It is a curious reflection,
but obvious, that, whilst the British breeders in building up the
pure-bred stock export trade have brought English agriculture
in this particular section to a high condition of prosperity, they
have prepared a rod for the backs of the British farmer ! For,
although to the public of Great Britain, the £10,500,000 worth
of frozen and chilled meat imported during 1910 was a blessing,
it was obviously regarded in quite another light by the
farmers.

CHAPTER VII

THE STOCKKAISERS' MARKET

THIS is a very important and practical department of the
subject. It would not be difficult to outline the system which
regulates the handling of the frozen carcass through the various
stages, from discharge at the London or Liverpool wharf to the
final destination at the retailer's shop, but something more
than generalization is wanted here.

The Argentine Way.

Before following the meat from ship to shop, it is well to
take a step backwards and refer to the methods by which the
shipment of frozen meat is worked. To take the simplest way
first — the South American. Meat shipped from Argentina is
the property of the freezing works, which, in all but a few
instances, have their own offices in London, and depots, and a
complete system for the sale of the meat at various ports and
important marketing centres throughout England. Messrs.
James Nelson and Sons have about 1,500 retail shops, and
two of the other Argentine companies own shops. In the
case of all the South American frozen meat shipped to Great
Britain, the officials in England, or the regular agents of
those companies which have not English offices, take charge
of and realize the goods in their own shops, on the market,
or ex store. There is much less forward selling in the South
American than in the Australasian trade. Much of the
Uruguayan, Patagonian, and Venezuelan meat is sold forward,
and Argentine has been, and is occasionally thus sold now.
One important difference has marked the Argentine selling
system as compared with the Australasian. In the former
trade the meat is, as a rule, turned over quickly ; the holders
have averaged the market values and sold steadily right

THE STOCK K.\I<KRS' MARKET 101

along, and have used the cold stores merely as rccei\ inu'
ilr|,..ts for their meat. Continuous supplies have enabled
the Argentine companies to develop distribution pretty well
on rrtail linos, and owing to regular and continuous imports
into Great Britain the Argentine houses have been able to
avoid, to a great extent, the embarrassing accumulations
ami temporary scarcities which have so frequently caused
disaster to those engaged in the necessarily more speculative
Au-trolosian trade, in which, unfortunately, there has always
been a lack of continuity in supplies. The advantage of an
extended season enables Argentine shippers to export practi-
cally uniform monthly quantities. (Australasian works all
have a more or less lengthy " closed down " period.) Mention
may be made of the freight contracts for definite quantities,
to cover long periods, made in the Argentine trade, say, one to
three years, and shippers are under penalty to ship these
specified quantities at regular intervals, be the British market
good or bad, or pay dead freight.

Australasian Methods.

The Australian and New Zealand meat export business is
worked in two ways. First, there is the old-fashioned con-
signment or commission system, by which the grower or the
merchant ships on owner's account. All the trade in the early
days was conducted on this basis. It was then very commonly
the practice for exporters of small lots to send the meat through
the banks or wool houses ; such consignees, knowing nothing
of the frozen meat trade, sent the documents to Smithfield
salesmen. Nowadays in New Zealand the owner of the stock
takes the risk of the London market to a limited extent ; in
Australia the grower does not do this, preferring to sell his
stock to the freezing companies, which, in order to keep their
factories going, have to buy from the graziers and pastoralists
extensively. The Australian producer nowadays is not anxious
to become a direct shipper to the British market on consignment,
but in the early days of the Queensland export a very large
proportion of the beef was sent forward at the growers' risk.

102 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

We may take it that the Australian meat producer, as a rule,
sells to the shipper, who either consigns or sells forward, accord-
ing to circumstances. The London offices of the Australasian
banks receive a small amount of business, but the great bulk
of consignments is sent direct to the houses which lay them-
selves out specially for this trade. The advances to the shipper
are calculated in much the same way as in any other trade,
and generally bear a fixed relation to the London value of the
meat at the time of sailing. The charges on account sales are
generally on one of two bases, either a consolidated rate (a
method very little used now), which covers all expenses from
the ship's rail in London up to rendering account sales, or
charging all actual out-of-pocket expenses, such as lighterage,
storage, fire insurance, cartage, pitching and market tolls,
railage, interest, port dues, etc., plus brokerage. The Smithfield
salesman's commission is 2 per cent., and the bank or agent
usually charges 1 per cent, for his work.

Buying and Selling Forward on C.I.F. Terms.

With the introduction of the grading process, about 1890,
purchasing frozen meat forward became possible. Large
retailers in London and the Provinces who have regular outlets
for meat of a certain quality and weight at once saw that they
could partly cover their requirements for many months in
advance by means of contracting to buy on a cost, freight, and yv\
insurance basis. This system has had to be adopted with the
leading lines of perishable food produce handled by the large
stores and " multiple shop " companies. It has been applied
quite scientifically to the frozen meat trade, and represents one
of the most important and interesting developments. The
volume of business passing during the last ten or fifteen years
on this basis has been very considerable, but is apt to fluctuate
widely, according to the requirements of the " multiple shop "
companies, and shippers' costs. In the disastrous 1909 season,
when frozen lamb fell 50 per cent, in price on the rates of the
previous year, forward buyers dropped money heavily, and it
must be noted that a proportion (though quite a small one) of

THE STOCKRAISERS* MARKET loi

the o.i.f. purchasers are purely speculators. The c.i.f. system
was started in New Zealand, and receives iN nioM seientilir
development there. In Australia, speaking of meat shipments
as a whole, grading has not been so thoroughly mastered as in
New Zealand, and without reliable grading for quality and
weight the forward trade is not seen at its best. Australian
trade is severely handicapped in this respect, and lower prices
ai< paid to cover faulty grading. A larger percentage of
Australian than of New Zealand meat is now sold on c.i.f.
terms. Whilst it is true that Australian grading of frozen
meat, as a whole, is not as reliable as is desirable, nearly
every one in the trade will accept the brands of some of the
Commonwealth shippers as meritorious examples of the grading
system.

How the C.I.F. Trade is Worked.

The modus operandi in the c.i.f. business is as follows. The
representatives in London (termed in the trade " agents ")
of the freezing companies, having certain lines of mutton and
lamb of specified weights on their books, go round to their
c.i.f. buyers on Smithfield and telephone to their country
clients in the endeavour to fix up contracts ; the cable is
freely used in the business. When a sale is made, a formal
contract passes between seller and buyer ; there are
several different forms current. The contract fixes the
time for shipment, either by the month or the steamer being
specified. On the arrival of the carrying vessel, the buyer
pays net cash against documents (bill of lading and insurance
policy), and takes possession of the meat, provided that the
documents are in order, as to brand, port of shipment, date of
bill of lading, terms of insurance, range of weights, etc. If the
bill of lading bears date the first day of the month following,
ur the last day of the month preceding, the specified month,
there is a breach of contract. Forward sales have been made
for as long as six months ahead, but a more common plan is
to sell month by month. Under this system, the shipper has
to stand the cost of freight, insurance, and exchange, and the

104 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

buyer in England bears all costs of landing, storing, and market
tolls, also loss of weight up to an agreed percentage.

Ex ship sales are practically a department of the " forward "
system of doing business ; the term may be applied to contracts
made after the carrying vessel has sailed, but is principally
used for sales made after the ship has arrived at London. The
agent, having documents in his hands representing consign-
ments sent to his care, may make a contract when he takes
delivery from the vessel.

Allowances Off Actual Weights.

An interesting question which may be referred to at this
point is that of allowances off actual weights made in the
frozen meat trade. The c.i.f . or ex ship buyer pays on colonial
bill of lading weights, which represent a deduction of from 5
to 6 per cent, off the " hot " or " green " weight. Occa-
sionally meat is weighed " cold," while some of the Argentine
companies weigh the carcasses in a frozen state, in lots of
20, in order to arrive at the bill of lading weight. Sellers
guarantee that the loss on weight when the carcasses are
weighed in store at the time of delivery shall not exceed an
agreed percentage, usually 2 per cent., from the bill of lading
weight.

At Smithfield when selling off the hooks the weights are
taken as a rule without the wrappers, and buyers claim
allowances from these weights to cover the loss in cutting up
and the turn of the scale. These allowances vary slightly in
accordance with the terms of sale. Until recently abatements
had been accorded only in the London trade, but they
have now been introduced at Liverpool and elsewhere, as far
as Australasian meat is concerned. The allowances in question
from the gross weight are 2 Ibs. on each New Zealand sheep,
8 Ibs. on every five Australian and South American sheep,
1 Ib. on each lamb, and 2 to 3 Ibs. on each quarter of beef,
according to the nature of the wrapper. The allowance on
Australian beef was reduced from 2 Ibs. to 1 Ib. per quarter by
concerted action of the agents at a time when supplies were in

Tl IK STOCKRAISERS1 MARKET

or two hands, and that reduction waa accepted for many
years. Latterly the old scale has been reverted to owing to
the keen competition amongst sellers. This London " bate "
formed the ground for strife between the North American
" Beef Trust " houses and Smithfield a long time ago. When
these firms first opened their business in Great Britain, they
allowed the usual " bate " of 1 Ib. off their chilled beef quarters,
but when they got firmly settled down, and were sufficiently
strong to dictate to their customers, they withdrew this allow-
ance. The battle was sharp, but as the American refrigerated
beef had become by that time absolutely necessary to the
Smithfield salesman, the position of the Americans was im-
pregnable. Their victory, however, left a bitter feeling, traces
of which are observable to this day. The origin of the market
allowances on mutton is obscure. Some people trace it to the
time when Scotch mutton was sent to Smithfield with the
kidneys left in the carcasses ; as kidneys had no value, appa-
rently, the salesmen removed them or allowed the buyer 1 Ib.
off the consignors' weight. But frozen sheep, as a rule, contain
no kidneys ! The allowance is made partly to cover the
butcher's loss by wastage in cutting the meat into small
joints. As far back as one can discover from research, the
Smithfield custom was to allow 1 Ib. draft on every quarter
of beef and 3 Ibs. per side, besides tare.

The Great Grading Question.

As grading of the carcass is the foundation of the c.i.f . trade,
some remarks on the system may be made. The earliest refer-
ences appear in the year 1890. At that time grading and
classification on more exact lines were suggested to facilitate
mercantile handling of New Zealand mutton and lamb.
" Forward " sales on c.f . and i. basis had increased, and this
system of carrying on the trade necessitated the employment
of more precise standards of quality and weight. In the
nineties the " multiple shop " principle of trading began to
be developed in the large cities of England, and the proprietors
of these businesses found it as convenient to contract for

106 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

forward delivery of their frozen meat — in the case of meat
retailing concerns — as the New Zealand farmers found it
convenient to secure a market on the spot by selling outright
to the freezing companies. As the multiple shop companies
grew, the necessity to cover requirements some months
ahead and to guard against sudden variations in values
became more pressing, with the result that the c.i.f. system
became incorporated as a fundamental part of the New Zealand
frozen meat trade. It has had many critics, and had it
remained as it began — only a speculative affair (on the part
of buyers) — the "forward" trade, and possibly the trade as
a whole, would not have assumed the volume and regularity
it now possesses. As the introduction of grading is one of the
great historic events of the frozen meat trade, the following
extract from a market review of 1890 is of interest : —

" In view of the vast extent of the trade and its established
character, some serious efforts should be made to grade and
classify the exports from New Zealand in a more thorough
manner than has hitherto been done."

It was found by importers that the brand was not such a
guarantee of uniformity and quality as forward buyers required.
As a record, there may be inserted here the grades in force at
the New Zealand Refrigerating Co.'s works at Dunedin in
August, 1890 :

A. Sheep 55 to 70 Ibs. .

B. „ 50 to 54 „ . . .1 Crossbred wethers

C. each weighing from 71 Ibs. upwards v and

D. ranging from 40 to 50 Ibs. . . maiden ewes.
MER. Merinos 45 Ibs. and upwards

This company was the first concern to sell c.i.f. and the first
to grade for weight. It always failed to grade satisfactorily
for quality.

At the beginning of the trade the only thing necessary in
this connection was that the meat should be graded to quality,
the demand in the first instance being largely for heavy
weights in mutton. As the trade developed it was found that
the requirements of Smithfield were turning to lighter weight

•nil. s' I '(UK KAISERS* MARKET 107

sheep ; buyers paid a higher price for light mutton, say,
under 64 Ibs., than for the heavy carcasses which had been
oniiimrily shipped. The tendency for the favourite weight of
sheep to grow steadily less and less is largely due to the
insistent demand of the lower classes for variety on their table.
The small joint sells first because the wife of the English artisan
and labourer is not skilled in making tasty dishes out of cold
meat. In 1887 the most favoured weight was 64 Ibs., to-day
it is from 48 to 52 Ibs. The first grading suggestions from
London favoured the somewhat arbitrary system of classifying
the mutton carcasses into 5-lb. grades. After consideration
it was found more commercially convenient to adopt the stone
grade of 8 Ibs. ; this brought the New Zealand mutton grading
into correspondence with the weight measure regulating
sales of live and dead meat in the London trade. The grades
on this basis of the Christchurch Meat Co. — practically, also,
of the Canterbury Frozen Meat Co. — are as follow. The New
Zealand (North Island), Australian, and South American systems
are different. But as these Canterbury grades have much
currency at Smithfield, it is convenient to give them.

Sheep . Under 48 Ibs. . . Weight brand 1

„ . 48 to 56 Ibs. . „ 7

„ . 56 to 64 Ibs. . ,,3

„ . 64 to 72 Ibs. . . ,,9

„ . Over 72 Ibs. . ,,5

Lambs . Under 36 Ibs. . ,,2

. 36 to 42 Ibs. . ,,8

„ . 42 to 50 Ibs. . . ,,4

Tegs . Over 50 Ibs. . „ T

These weight grades are mainly for the South Island of
New Zealand ; the North Island favours to some degree this
gradation : under 50 Ibs., 50—55, 55 — 60, 60—65, 65 — 70, and
over 70. The Wellington Meat Export Co.'s grades for
mutton run : under 55 Ibs., 55 — 65, and 65 — 70. Other
exporters adopt slight variations on these classifications. It
would certainly be convenient if one standard could be
adopted for the whole of the freezing works of the Dominion.

108 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

It may be stated that the 8-lb. butcher's stone of the London
trade is not accepted at Liverpool or any other large centres of
the United Kingdom, where meat transactions go by the pound.

The sheep and lamb carcasses are first graded for quality,
and then for weight. Beef is also weight-graded, but on
broader lines, the favourite range of weights being from 160 to
220 Ibs. per quarter : under 160 Ibs., 160—180, 180—200, 200—
220, and over 220.

Probably the first c.i.f. transaction on record, the authors
learn on inquiry, was a sale in 1888 of 2,000 Dunedin sheep
to Messrs. W. and R. Fletcher, Ltd., by Messrs. A. S. Paterson
and Co., of Dunedin, through their London agents, Messrs. W.
Weddel and Co.

Argentine Grading1. — With regard to the grading of Argen-
tine frozen meat, each company grades its own meat in its
own way — there is no general classification, as there is with
Australasian mutton and lamb. The shipments of mutton and
lamb from Argentina mainly represent first quality ; secondary,
or relatively inferior, meat is shipped separately under certain
marks, but the classifications used in the Australian trade —
" g.a.q." " f.a.q.," etc. — are not recognized in the Argentine
trade. The weight grades of the Compania Sansinena de
Games Congeladas for mutton are : 40 to 46 Ibs., 47 to 56,
57 to 64, 65 to 72, and over 72. The River Plate Fresh Meat
Company's classifications are as follows. Mutton ; 40 to 48 Ibs.,
49 to 54, 55 to 60, 61 to 68, 69 to 75. Lamb ; under 30 Ibs.,
31 to 36, 37 to 40, 41 to 44, 45 to 50. Beef is graded as
systematically as mutton, but both chilled and frozen are
graded more for quality than for weight. The two Patagonian
companies grade for weight and quality, and grading is also
practised at the Uruguayan and Venezuelan works.

Rates and Freights.

In one way or another the grower cashes his meat partially
or, in cases of outright sales, entirely at the time of shipment.
His banker or agent at the port of shipment makes no difficulty
under ordinary circumstances about advancing 75 per cent, of

Till. >T«M KK \|>| |{> U UIKI i

109

the then market value of the meat. Companies handling a
large quantity, of course, make special arrangements with their
bankers. Farmers shipping through freezing companies are
sometimes charged a " consolidated rate," covering everything
from works to sale at the Central Markets, London. This
inclusive rate may be roughly stated as l^d.io \\d. per Ib. on a
parcel of mutton or lamb shipped from New Zealand to London.
As the companies do so much buying now, the " consolidated
rate " may be considered old-fashioned. The economy now
existing in the trade is noted in comparing these figures with
those of, say, 1893-1894, when the movement for reducing
charges in Australia was initiated. The New Zealand con-
solidated rate then in force was rsod. per Ib., and that on beef
shipped from Queensland was 2-49(2. The charge to-day on
Queensland mutton is Urf., when squatters ship on their own
account. Going back to 1885, the shipper in New Zealand
of a 65-lb. sheep was mulcted, on the above basis, to the extent
of 3£<2. per Ib. (in 1883, 4d.) : colonial charges \d.t transport 2Jd.,
and London expenses fd. Selling his meat at 5d. per Ib.,
he netted about 8s. on his sheep. By 1888 the total
charges had dropped to 2'6ld. per Ib. Now they are l$d.
per Ib.

The freight on frozen meat from New Zealand has been fixed
from 1905 on the following scale : —

—

Mutton.

Lamb.

Lamborer
421ba.

Boef.

I.'V- "f

Mutton.

From December to May, inclusive
From June to November, inclusive

Per Ib.

Per Ib.

M.

Per Ib.
tt*
A*

Per Ib.
i<*'

Per Ib.

New Zealand Brands.

On p. 110 appear the leading brands used by the New
Zealand meat works. Many of these are at the same time
quality grade marks, such as " Eclipse," " Sun," etc.

farmers in New Zealand have been in clover for many
yean past as regards the realization of their meat. Most of

110 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

Town.

Name of Freezing Works.

Brands.

Auckland

Auckland Sheep Farmers' Co.

Same in full and " Glas."

Gisborne .

Gisborne Sheep Farmers' Co.

Name in full.

Circle.

Napier .

Nelson Brothers

Circle.

North British and Hawke's Bay Freez-

1 N. B. & H. B. F. Co."

ing Co.

T. Borthwick and Sons

"Paki Paki,'1 "Hastings."

Wellington

Wellington Meat Export Co.

"W.M.E.Co.,""N.G.A.,"

and name in full.

Longburn Meat Freezing Co.

" Longburn, N.Z.," and

sub-marks.

Gear Meat Preserving and Freezing

" G. C."

Co. of New Zealand.

Masterton

Wellington Farmers' Meat Co. .

"W. F. M.," "Taratabi,"

and " Masterton."

Patea

Patea Freezing Works ....

" Patea Freezing Works."

Wanganui

Wanganui Meat Freezing Co.

" Wanganui " (red and

black), Thistle.

Waitara .

T. Borthwick and Sons

" Waitara, N.Z.," "Mount

Egmont."

Stoke

Nelson Freezing Co

" N. F. C.," " Stoke," One

Anchor, and Two

Anchors.

Picton .

Christchurch Meat Co.

"C. M. C.," "Wairau,"

Crown, and Three

Crowns.

Belfast .

Canterbury Frozen Meat and Dairy \

f

Produce Export Co.

1 " C. F. M. Co.," Dia-

Fairfield .

n » »i

mond, and Star.

Pareoroa . .

'! )) )) )

I

Islington

Christchurch Meat Company J

Smithfield (or

>» ii »

i « Eclipse," " C. M. C.,"

Timaru)

y. .

j Sun, One Crown, Three

Oamaru .

t» M )l I

I Crowns.

Burnside »

" !> 1' J

Hornby .

"C. M. C."and"C.F.M.

Co." 777 (the brands

denote the various

Canterbury works

where the stock were

killed).

Mat aura .

Southland Frozen Meat Co. (

f"S. F. M. C.," "M.,"

Wallace Town

11 11 »

( " Z.," and Crosskeys.

Ocean Beach .

Birt and Co

" Princeps," "0. B." VJOH

Tokomaru

Tokomaru Farmers' Freezing Co.

" Tokomaru," " Waima,"

and "Tawhiti."

them sell their live stock on the farm, or at so much per Ib.
at the works. Their market, at high prices, frequently too
high (compared with London), has been assured. The disas-
trous 1909 season would probably have had the effect of

11 IK STOCKRAISERS' MARKET 111

lowering the value of sheep and lambs in New Zealand for
freezing had not the following year been one of high prices
on the English market. Some of the New Zealand freezing
companies operate on their own account, while others are
" farmers' companies," freezing only. The Canterbury
Fro/en Meat Co., formed in 1SS1, is an example of the latter
system. Some companies combine the two methods.

Australian Grades.

Much of the Australian mutton and lamb — and it must be
stated that grading in Australia is slowly improving — is sold
on two quality standards : " f.a.q." (fair average quality),
and " g.a.q." (good average quality). Sydney meat mostly
comes under the former, and Melbourne under the latter.
" F.a.q." allows but little recourse on account of quality,
and buyers want a considerable concession in price for that
reason. In the cases of well-known accepted brands,
with a reputation, the meat is sold on f.a.q. or g.a.q. of
the brand, and the trouble arising from the interpretation of
" g.a.q." is lessened. The difficulty in the Australian trade
has been the uncertainty as to a standard of quality. In the
New Zealand trade there is a recognized basis of quality.
Every weight grade carries with it a certain standard, and for
a delivery against sale a carcass must carry proportionately as
much weight as a sheep in good condition would carry. With-
out such a standard, how can allowances be assessed ? In
the New Zealand business only two grades denoting quality
are used in the general trade : " Prime Quality " and " Second
Quality." With the latter, except in extreme cases, there is
no recourse for the dissatisfied purchaser, who can call for
surveys in the case of " Prime Quality." With the North
Island companies' meat there is a grade " good average
quality," carrying with it recourse. The London c.i.f. buyer
has to cover himself to the extent of fad. per Ib. in accepting
" colonial weights " ; that allows for shrinkage in freezing and
the London " bate."

Allusion has been made above to the c.i.f. form of contract

112 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

commonly employed in the " forward " trade (New Zealand).
Although buyers and sellers, assisted by the efforts of the
Frozen Meat Trade Association, for years hammered away
at a " uniform contract," the difficulty of harmonizing
the many divergent views expressed was found insurmount-
able. It is to be hoped that a form that commends itself to
the trade will be generally adopted throughout trading
centres in the United Kingdom.

To conclude these remarks regarding the " forward " system
of handling New Zealand and Australian meat, it may be
stated that, notwithstanding the results of the terrible 1909
season, there can be no doubt that this method of selling the
meat, based as it is upon the modern commercial ways of
working large meat and provision shop businesses, has become
firmly established and will extend. There are, it is true,
certain drawbacks to it, but these, no doubt, in time will be
partly or wholly removed. For instance, there is a consider-
able difference of opinion, with consequent friction, as to what
constitutes the Australian grades referred to above, " g.a.q."
and " f.a.q.," and some weakness in the working of the general
system is shown in the arbitrations as to quality which are
frequently called. It is alleged, perhaps without very good
grounds, that the calls for these arbitrations vary in direct
ratio to the tone of the market. The c.i.f . trade fluctuates as
regards the business done, depending upon the views that are
held regarding the immediate future prospects of the market.

Discharging the Meat at the London Docks.

The stockowner, although often he may be less concerned
than others financially in frozen meat cargoes on their arrival
at the port of destination, evinces a keen interest in the
systems under which the shipments are handled on discharge,
and the following information will, therefore, be of interest
to him as well as to others concerned in the trade.

The vessels conveying frozen meat from Australasia to
London berth at Tilbury, Victoria, and Royal Albert Docks,
and those from South America in the Victoria, Royal

CAPTAIN NUAKK.S'S MECHANICAL CONVKYOI: HIM HAKIJINU
FKOZEN MEAT AT TIIK HMIT OF LONDON.

To /net- />.

THE STOCKRAISERS' MARKET 113

, and West India Docks. The two Australian mail lines,
which do not carry a great quantity of meat in each vessel,
and the White Star steamers, use the Tilbury Docks. The
steamers usually break bulk within twenty-four hours of
docking, and as a rule the discharging goes forward during
working hours without any stoppage till completion. The dis-
charging is done by dock labourers, who are sometimes the
employees of the shipowners and sometimes of firms of steve-
dores discharging under contract. Carcasses of mutton and
lamb and quarters of beef are commonly discharged in
slings, but the New Zealand Shipping Co., the Shaw, Savill
and Albion Co., the Shire Line, and other companies, use
patent elevators and shoots for the rapid handling of mutton
and lamb.

Noakes' " telescopic elevator " was the first appliance of the
kind. This <vas invented by Captain G. H. Noakes, superin-
tendent of discharge to the New Zealand Shipping Co. in
London, and was patented about the year 1900. It consists
of a telescopic frame carrying two endless chains, and on the
chains are fitted at equal intervals shelves or projections to
convey the goods. It is driven off the ordinary ships' winches
by means of a rope slung round from the winch end. This
machine is portable and very handy, it being possible to pick it
up from the quay and place it in the hold ready for work
in about twenty minutes, and it is capable of discharging
sheep, cases of butter, crates of bananas, or any packages of
uniform size, at the rate of over 1,000 per hour.

Captain Noakes has recently designed an improved form of
conveyor for the discharge of frozen meat from vessels, which
consists of a system of mechanical chutes and endless belt-
carriers driven by small electric motors fitted inside the
mechanical chute, leading from the ship's deck to the quayside.
This apparatus, which has lately been installed and set to work
at the London docks, is illustrated herewith. Although the
driving is in the upper part of the chute the control is at the
bottom, and a man by pressing a button can stop it imme-
diately if necessary. By this system, in conjunction with the
elevators for raising the meat from the holds, the carcasses

K.M. 1

114 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

are carried from the hold to the end of the quay for delivery,
without the aid of meat slings or hand trucks. The mechanical
chute does away entirely with the system of sliding sheep down
chutes, as they rest against a projection, and are carried down
by the electrically-driven appliances. This prevents exposure
(the carcasses are protected by canvas coverings), bruises and
abrasions.

The method of discharge at the docks in London depends
upon the destination of the meat. There are three general
courses open : warehousing at the dock stores, despatch by
rail to the country, and barging along the river to the " up-
town " stores. Taking the Tilbury Docks first, farthest down
the river, if meat is to go into the dock stores at Victoria Docks
it is barged up. If intended for the country it is forwarded by
railway, or if for the up-town, riverside stores, barging is
resorted to. If the meat is for the dock stores at West Smith-
field, the railway and also insulated vans are employed. At
the Victoria and Royal Albert Docks the same procedure is
followed, except that meat intended for the dock stores at
these two docks is transferred there direct, either by railway
or hand truck, according to the distance from the ship's berth,
and that intended for the dock stores at West Smithfield is
forwarded in insulated vans. The handling of meat at the West
India Dock is practically the same, meat for the dock stores
at Victoria Dock being conveyed thither by insulated vans.
The railing, vanning, and trucking involve the landing of the
meat on the quay alongside which the vessel lies, and meat for
barges is usually delivered from the other, or water, side of
the vessel, alongside which the barges lie. The railway wagons
run alongside the quay, and the dock stores have connection
with the Great Eastern, Midland, London and North Western,
and Great Northern lines. Meat by steamers in the Tilbury
Dock intended for forwarding by railway to London is dis-
patched at frequent intervals, and trucks for the country
(insulated and iced in the summer), having received the full
consignments, or such portions as are available, are sent
away to their destinations. Transit is fairly rapid ; a line of

THE STOCKRAISERS* MARKET 115

meat loaded direct from the vessel on to the railway can be
delivered at Manchester or Cardiff within twelve hours.

Conveying to Store.

A very large quantity of the Australian, New Zealand, and
South American meat is taken in barges to the Lambeth
stores of the Colonial Consignment and Distributing Co.,
Ltd., the various stores of the Union Cold Storage Co.,
the Blackfriars Cold Storage Co., Ltd., the Thames Cold
Storage Co., etc. The barges are brought up the river on the
next tide after the day's work is finished. The great aim
of the lighterman is to get a full load, so as to ensure the meat
travelling in the best condition. Considerable delay takes
place at times in the conveyance of meat by this method,
particularly in foggy weather, and advocates of storing at the
docks suggest that the barging system is far from an ideal
method of conveying frozen meat. But some of the meat that
goes into the dock stores is moved in this way, as mentioned
above. The secretary of the Colonial Consignment and
Distributing Co., Ltd., states that his company's barges are
" carefully insulated with hair felt, and with full cargoes it is
an unknown thing for damage to occur in transit." All the
barges conveying meat from ship's side to up-town stores
are insulated and are passed by Lloyd's inspectors. Formerly,
however, this was not the case, and much damage occurred to
meat in transit in hot weather through the imperfect conditions
which ruled. All the London public cold stores are on the
Thames, excepting those of the London Central Markets Cold
Storage Co., which are under and adjoining Smithfield, the
West Smithfield cold store of the Port of London Authority,
and one or two others indicated in the London cold storage
map, Appendix VI. Meat for the first-named store is barged
to that company's depot at Poplar and carried thence by
insulated motor vans.

Having warehoused his mutton, lamb, or beef at one of the
London cold stores, the owner arranges further steps in his
campaign according to his business and the state of the market.
His one great aim is to clear the meat within four weeks, so aa

i2

116 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

to save the second month's " management rate " charge. The
object of the merchant is to deliver to the market only such
quantity as he may expect to dispose of every day, but if meat is
left over unsold at the close of business at Smithfield it is
seldom taken back to store, as it will remain in sufficiently
good condition on the hooks for the next day's business.
Occasionally, however, meat unsold is taken back to store,
especially in the case of the cold stores handy to the market.
In hot weather, naturally, this course is adopted more freely.
Those tenants who rent storage space under their stalls from
the London Central Markets Stores, which space communicates
with the premises above, generally pop their left-over stuff
down into their cold rooms.

In putting forward these details concerning an exceedingly
technical section of this subject, the authors desire to mention
that the business systems of the various firms of merchants,
importers, and salesmen, are not all framed on the same lines.
All that must be expected of this chapter is a more or less
rough and, it is feared, incomplete outline of the methods
under which the Australasian and South American producers
get their stock to the market.

CHAPTER VIII

THE FUNCTIONS OF THE MEAT INSPECTOR

IN this chapter is given information concerning the general
principles and methods which govern the official examination
of frozen and chilled meat in the exporting countries, and
details are added referring to the practice of British Medical
Officers of Health in dealing with this meat on its arrival at
the ports of Great Britain. Reference is also made to the
totally inadequate measures taken to protect the British
public from the consumption of diseased meat, bred and
slaughtered in the United Kingdom. The more one regards
the meat inspection systems in vogue in different countries,
so widely differing in principle and detail, the more necessary
does it appear to work for an international standard of meat
inspection, respecting which proposal it is still hoped there will
be a conference in Paris in 1912, or at some early date.

New Zealand.

New Zealand has an excellent official system of inspec-
tion, which is rigidly applied to exported frozen meat. The
Dominion spends a very considerable sum annually in paying the
salaries of a staff of specially qualified inspectors, twenty-four
of whom write M.R.C.V.S. after their names. Official inspection
in New Zealand is carried on under the General Meat Inspection
Act of 1900. The inspectors have by this Act full control over
the sanitary and general conditions of the freezing works of the
Dominion of New Zealand. The Government of New Zealand
has, from early days in the industry, applied itself consistently
to the question of having veterinary examination made of
meat intended for the export trade. Concerning this,

118 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

Sir Joseph Ward, as Prime Minister, made himself responsible
for the following statement : —

All meat as exported from New Zealand is absolutely guaranteed by the
Government to be healthy, wholesome, and thoroughly fit for human food.

Australia.

As to Australia, the inspection and supervision of meat for
export is undertaken by the Federal Government. Prior to
February 1, 1911, the various States were working on indi-
vidual lines, and though the regulations in force in the States
were most thorough, the want of uniformity led to some
confusion. But at the date mentioned, the Federal Govern-
ment assumed control of Australian meat inspection, and now
all meat exported from the Commonwealth is inspected on a
uniform basis under the Commerce (Trade Descriptions) Act,
1905, and the Customs Act, 1910, prior to export, and meat
found to be in every way satisfactory is marked " approved
for export." Second grade meat is marked as " passed
for export," while emaciated and diseased meat is, of course,
refused any permit for export. Here attention may be drawn
to the fine distinction between "approved" and "passed"
in the Commonwealth inspection regulations. Whilst New
Zealand and Argentina, in common with usual practice,
each have one standard of fitness, Australia has two. A large
staff of veterinary surgeons is stationed at the abattoirs and
meat works throughout the Commonwealth, and the regulations
under which they work are drastic. The examination is ante-
and post-mortem. The central point of the Commonwealth
regulations is that the exportation of any meat is prohibited
unless it has been certified by an inspector under the
Commerce Act to be fit for export. Under the Commerce Act
there is prohibition of the export of carcass meat in a
diseased state, and " disease " includes any defect, inferiority,
or abnormal condition in the meat which renders it unsightly
or unfit for human food.

Australia can afford to go still farther than European
countries in the raising of her standard. Her proportion of

QUEENSLAND

(AUSTRALIA)

THIS MEAT hit been examined by me. and by ante-mortem
and posl-mortem veterinary Inspection Is found to be tree
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THE FUNCTIONS OF THE MEAT I\HT.(T<)K 11!)

stock diseases is wonderfully small, and as boiling down is
iblo for rejects, the Australian freezing works have in tin-
case of animals not up to freezing mark a second string to their
bow which the British farmer and butcher lack. No meat can
be exported from Australia unless it has passed the veterinary 's
health testa.

Argentina.

The measures taken by the Government of Argentina to
ensure that frozen and chilled meat exported shall be in all
respects sound, free from disease, and of first class quality, are
most thorough. Before stock can be moved in the Republic,
official permission has to be obtained. Attached to every
frigorifico is a Government inspector who has an office in the
works. He has to look into all the processes, inspects the stock
before killing, and the meat before export, and has the right to
reject anything of inferior quality. The following statement
l>y the manager of one of the Argentine works shows how
thorough is the inspection : — " Two or more Government
inspectors are billeted at each works ; they are there all their
time, scrutinize everything, examine live stock, slaughterings,
the meat, walking about the whole time, condemning anything
and everything they are not absolutely satisfied with, and
nothing leaves the works without the Government inspectors'
n-rtification." The vessels carrying the frozen meat from
Argentine ports are under Government supervision as to
cleanliness, disinfection, and hygiene. Of late, as a comple-
ment to this careful system of inspection, the Government of
the Republic have enacted that a brand in aniline dye, which
has the force of a Government certificate of soundness, shall be
placed upon all frozen meat exported to Great Britain. The
Act under which the official supervision is undertaken is the
Animals Sanitary Law, No. 4155.

The certificated labels that are attached to meat exported

from the three countries whose official inspection systems are

above explained are reproduced herewith. They are very

il and necessary documents; but, after all, speaking

120 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

of Great Britain's importation of frozen and chilled meat, the
Local Government Board's inspector is the real tribunal.

Inspection of Meat Killed in the United Kingdom,

Several references have been made in this book to the
inefficient methods of inspecting home-killed meat in the
United Kingdom. Under regulations officially observed, there
is a competent veterinary staff employed at British ports
to see to it that no diseased or unsound meat from overseas
is landed for consumption. One would think that an
equally satisfactory examination of stock slaughtered through-
out the United Kingdom would be made. But what do
we find ? Dr. Collingridge, Medical Officer of Health for
the City of London, in his report dated April 25, 1911, made
the following observation when referring to the Australian
official inspection clauses : — " It is unfortunate that while
such regulations are made and enforced abroad, there are no
provisions for the compulsory inspection of meat at the time of
slaughter in this country."

A flood of light is thrown upon this subject by Mr. W. G.
Barnes, Chief Veterinary Inspector and Superintendent of
Abattoirs, Islington Cattle Market, in his paper read before the
Royal Sanitary Institute Congress at Belfast on July 28, 1911,
" Meat Branding and Uniformity of Inspection." In many of
the rural districts, meat inspection, Mr. Barnes stated, " is a
theory instead of a practice." The following quotations from
the paper are startling indeed : —

" The Britisher is daily eating the flesh of diseased animals,
and is unaware of it. He takes it for granted that the law of
the country provides for the inspection of all butcher meat
intended for his food, and consequently he does not deem it
necessary to make further investigation into the matter, but
is content to remain in ignorance of the fact that more than
half of the meat consumed in this country is never seen by an
inspector, and that in many parts of the country the system of
meat inspection is scandalous. As illustrative of this, it is
known that carcass butchers from towns some distance from

TIM-: ir.\(Ti<>N> or TIM. MEAT INSPECTOR 121

London con afford to pay from 30 shillings to £2 more per head
for a doubtful class of cattle, pay carriage to one of these places
where there is little or no inspection, outside London, and then
send the carcass to London for sale for human consumption ;
or, if it is too risky for sale in London, sell it locally. . . . Only
a short time ago, in conversation with a butcher who has a
large trade in a town not far from London, I was informed that
no inspector ever visited his premises for the purpose of
examining the meat. It was only visited three or at most four
times a year by the inspector of nuisances, and that was with
regard to its sanitary condition. ... A pure meat supply can
only be secured by a universal compulsory abattoir system and
general inspection of all animals intended for human food, also
branding and marking of all meat. This system would afford
the highest degree of protection to the consumer and would
probably be the indirect means of causing a great lessening in
disease.'*

Do not such facts as these concerning the supplies of home-
killed meat to British consumers throw into strong relief the
scientific veterinary inspection of chilled and frozen meat in
Australasia and South America, as detailed in the early part
of this chapter, and can there be a more forcible point to urge
in support of the case for frozen meat ?

An International Standard of Inspection.

Meat is not an interchangeable article of commerce, but is
subject to strict rules of inspection in most countries before it
can obtain entry. These conditions formed no hardship so long
as trade was carried on only in fresh meat from the adjacent
countries. The immense development of the refrigerated
meat trade and its conditions of handling render these
conditions antiquated and unworkable. There are no insur-
mountable difficulties to be overcome in placing refrigerated
meat in the same category as the articles of commerce
which may be consigned to any country. In exporting coun-
tries where refrigeration of meat is properly carried on, it is

122 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

killed under Government veterinary inspection. Inspection
to be thorough and complete has to be ante- and post-mortem,
and can only be done at the time of slaughter. Refrigerated
meat has to be stripped of all internal organs before freezing
and shipping. It therefore follows that the inspection, how-
ever rigid, can only be guaranteed by an assurance and cer-
tificate that the animals were healthy and the meat wholesome.
A certificate and guarantee to be valid must be given by a
Government authority, and must represent conditions well and
clearly understood. A complete harmony exists among all
the training institutions for veterinary science of all countries
as to principle and methods. Veterinary inspection is on a
strictly scientific basis, and there are an international standard
and regulations common to all lands where the inspection
of meat is considered of vital importance.

To free refrigerated meat from present trade disabilities in
European States, all that is required is that the standard
which already exists should be recognized as international.
Further, that an agreement be arrived at by the various coun-
tries that, provided an exporting country will guarantee that
all the conditions of inspection are being complied with, the
veterinary certificate of such country shall be recognized as
complete. Refrigerated meat would then be available for all
countries, and would only be subject to local inspection as to
refrigerated condition and soundness. It would then take its
place along with other articles of commerce — fresh markets
would be opened up, and its price would be regulated by the
world-wide demand.

Public Health Regulations.

A development which had bearing on some minor section
of the frozen meat trade, and made necessary certifi-
cates of examination from the Governments of exporting
countries, was the passing in England of the Public Health
(Regulations as to Food) Act, on August 28, 1907. On
September 12, 1908, the Local Government Board issued two
sets of Regulations : —

nil. FUNCTIONS OF THE MEAT INSPECTOR 1«8

(1) "The Public Health (First Series Unsound Food) Regu-
>ns, 1908," and

(2) "The Public Health (Foreign Meat) Regulations,
1908."

The first became operative on October 1, 1908, and the second
on January 1, 1909. The Regulations are now in full working
order, and have strengthened the hands of the sanitary
authorities at the various ports. These Regulations have had
v considerable influence upon the department of the frozen
meat trade discussed in Appendix II., for they were put
in force mainly to check irregularities in American meat
oddments and to enable the sanitary authorities in Great
Britain to have an effective weapon wherewith to fight
tuberculosis in pig carcasses and boxed pork.

Before the issue of the Regulations inspection of meat
imported into Great Britain had been casual and unmethodical.
The port sanitary authorities and the medical officers of health,
as well as the Board of Trade expert officers, found difficulty in
dealing with certain classes of imported frozen meat, and it was
considered desirable to give the inspectors further powers. For
instance, boneless beef, arriving in boxes with the pieces of
meat frozen into a solid mass, was impossible of identification
and examination by the inspectors as to the separate pieces.
This boned beef trade from New Zealand had grown to con-
M<!I -ruble proportions ; it was a profitable means of disposing
of old cows, and the form in which the meat arrived and its
cheapness allowed it to be used for mincing and other purposes.
As the conditions under which this boneless beef was prepared
and shipped were inconsistent with the requirements of British
inspectors, acting under the Public Health Regulations of
1907, viz., that frozen meat must arrive in separate pieces, the
trade was suspended for several years. But of late the
inspectors have modified the severity of their views, and boned
beef, frozen in separate pieces, is imported to a small extent,
mainly at the port of Glasgow. It is held in many quarters
that had the export of boneless beef been stopped altogether it
\\ < >uld not have been a matter for much regret, for, even allowing
that this low-grade meat was a valuable adjunct to New

124- A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

Zealand's carcass and quarter trade, it adds no lustre to the
Dominion's export of produce.

The Regulations referred to, in full working order, no doubt,
render more precise and (in some instances) equitable the
methods of the sanitary authorities with regard to any meat
seized for unsoundness. Merchants and importers of frozen
meats, at the time when the Regulations were being framed,
took the opportunity to press upon the Local Government
Board their view that identical instructions should be sent to
inspectors throughout the country, regarding the general
question of inspection of imported meats, and that the owners of
meat seized by the inspectors should be supplied with data,
such as the name of the vessel, the brand, etc. But this
reasonable suggestion has not been adopted. The officials
at different ports in England have varying methods of seizing
meat and of treating meat so seized ; it is a confusing and
unfair state of things to traders that different " standards "
and different practices should exist in the ports and wholesale
markets of Great Britain as regards meat inspection.

The Regulations make three classifications, the first of
which applies to " scrap " meat, and the other two to
pigs and parts of pigs. An important reference is to the
" official certificate " which the Regulations required. This is
defined as a certificate, label, mark, stamp, or other voucher,
declaring that the cattle or pig from which the meat is derived
has been certified by a competent authority in the place of
origin to be free from disease at the time of slaughter, and that
the meat has been certified by the like authority to have been
dressed or prepared, and packed, with the needful observance
of all requirements for the prevention of danger arising to public
health from the meat as an article of food. On the authors'
application in September, 1911, for information about these
certificates, which are obviously required in the interests of
shippers from various countries, Dr. G. S. Buchanan, Medical
Inspector to the Local Government Board, supplied copies of
accepted official certificates, as follow : — Denmark, the Nether-
lands, Canada, New Zealand, Belgium, and the Commonwealth
of Australia ; Dr. Buchanan wrote that the list of accepted

THE FUNCTIONS OF THE MEAT INSPECTOR 1*5

certificates did not include any from the United States or
South America. These Regulations have been dealt with
above very fully, because they appear to be the only example
of official enactment in Great Britain concerning meat inspec-
tion drafted on thoroughly scientific and uniform lines of
procedure.

CHAPTER IX

THE SHIPOWNERS' BURDEN

THE importance of the part that the shipowner plays in the
frozen meat trade of to-day is universally recognized, and most
of the pages of this book bear evidence of the great stake he
has in the industry. It was the shipowner who was always
ready in the pioneering and experimental days of the eighties
to risk his capital in meeting shippers' and merchants' wishes,
and to-day he is constantly called upon to extend the facilities
he offers for refrigerated overseas traffic. The freezing works
and the "refrigerated fleet" are the two great agencies engaged
in the preparation and transportation of the farmers' meat
to the markets of the Old World, and skill, capital, and
organizing power, both in freezing and transport, have all
along been required to ensure that the Australasian and South
American sheep, driven to the freezing works and landed on
the London Docks as frozen meat, have suffered the minimum
of depreciation in quality and condition.

Given the necessary information from behind the scenes,
what a book could be written on the beginnings and develop-
ment of the refrigerated produce trade, from the shipowners'
point of view ! If the walls of board rooms had ears, and
shipping clubs' discussions were recorded for the benefit of the
trade historian, it would be possible to write a useful and
entertaining narrative. The personalities of the owners and
managers of the great shipping lines that

Give the Pole the Produce of the Sun,
And knit th' unsocial climates into one,

are in many cases distinctly[striking ; many of us remember the
graphic, good-natured articles that Mr. Hope Robinson used
to write on them in the pages of Fairplay. What a tale could
be told, for instance, of the men who built up the " Austral-

I

I

•:
!

7-

HI! MIIPOWNERS* BURDEN 187

Shipping Conference " and their work ; will that chapter
ever be given to the world from the precincts of Leadenhall
Street ? The man at the head of a shipping line must, to be
successful, have great business gifts as well as force of character.
He must be resourceful to the last degree, incredibly audacious,
when necessary, in making contracts and adjusting business
with clients ; all the commercial facts from pole to pole he
masters concerning production and transport of merchandize,
and at a pinch, as the frozen meat trade shows, turns himself
into a merchant filling the holds of his own steamers. The
part the British shipowners — of refrigerated and other vessels
—played in the South African War stands out brilliantly
amongst many failures in other directions. Incidentally, they
made heaps of money !

" What Frozen Meat has done for the Shipowner " might
well form a sequel to " The Shipowners' Burden." The 1910
figures showed 214 vessels engaged in the conveyance of the
South American and Australasian frozen meat ; the carrying
capacity of these vessels was 14,225,500 carcasses of sheep.
Of these steamers 43 had a carrying capacity exceeding
100,000 carcasses each. As the total import of frozen meat
for 1910 was the equivalent of 18,056,844 carcasses, it seems
that, assuming that each ship of the " refrigerated fleet " came
home fully loaded, the portion of frozen meat allotted to each
vessel to carry during the year was the equivalent of about
84,380 carcasses. During 1911 the "refrigerated fleet" was
much augmented, and the insulated space of the vessels on
the Australasian and South American lines was at the end
of that year equal to 44,000,000 cubic feet (see Appendix VIII.),
say, 16,000,000 carcasses.

Then there is the great trade in butter, cheese, fruit, and
rabbits from Australia and New Zealand to consider. What
a welcome addition to the freight refrigerated produce must
have been, and what potent influence it must have had on
the expansion of the great fleets, as well as upon the construc-
tion of the vessels ! In 1888 there were 57 vessels in the trade
with a total carrying capacity of 955,000 carcasses ; by 1891
there were 87; in 1894, 100; in 1895, 108; and in 1898, 131.

128 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

The carrying capacities in those years were, respectively,
2,267,000, 3,367,000, 3,816,000, and 5,460,800 carcasses.

It would have been interesting to discover that there were
one or two master minds applying themselves with a prophet's
foresight to the task of adapting their ships to the new trade ;
men who, with the genius of perspicacity, fully grasped the
situation with all its possibilities. One cannot discover any
such figures, and the progress of the refrigerated carrying
trade seems to have been a natural evolution. Improvements
in refrigerating machinery, insulating materials, and appliances
or stowage and handling, have come along as the need suggested.

The shipowners' attitude in the early eighties was this : —
They said " we are the servants of the public, and if there is
meat to carry we must carry it." In this way they have
adapted themselves to the different departments of the
refrigerated business, science revealing the particular condi-
tions requisite for the safe carriage of each separate kind of
refrigerated produce. A great deal of capital is invested in
the " refrigerated fleet " ; roughly, it takes £20,000 merely to
fit a New Zealand liner with refrigerating machinery and
insulate her holds, and to this has to be added the cost of
upkeep, and the loss from the permanent reduction in dead
weight and cubic carrying capacities. Regarding the weight of
cargo carried, a vessel which, without refrigerating machinery,
could carry, say, 4,000 tons, could with it only take 3,000 tons
of ordinary cargo.

The Australian Lines.

The Australian shipping lines were not backward in taking
up refrigerated produce, and the companies running regular
services perceived quite early the possibilities of the new trade
and what it meant to the shipowner. The prospectus of the
Orient Steam Navigation Company, Limited, dated 21 May,
1880, contained this paragraph : " The export of fresh frozen
meat is likely to yield an important addition to the company's
earnings. A number of applications for space have already
been received, and the necessary refrigeration machines are
about to be fitted in the steamers." The first steamers fitted

Tin: >iim>\YM.u>' itniDEN

wen the s.s. Cuzco, Orient, and Garonne, in 1881. On p. 34
mrnM«n is made of tho pioneering part taken by the Orient
line vessels in fitting up their steamers for the carriage of
frozen moat, and note should be taken of the fact that this
company, in in-tailing Haslum machinery on its ships in 1880,
was tho first shipping lino in the world to go into tho
refrigerated meat trade on a regular basis. The Peninsular
and Oriental Company entered the trade in 1887, and their
first vessel to carry meat was the s.s. Victoria. The s.s. Hornby
Orange was Messrs. Moulder's first refrigerated vessel to enter,
in 1890, the Australian trade. The Aberdeen Lone took up
frozen meat freight in 1892, and the s.s. Australasian was the
lir-t steamer to be fitted. The first Federal Line steamer
to carry meat was the s.s. Maori King in 1893. The White
Star vessels entered the Australian trade in 1899, the s.s. Medic
being the first steamer to bring meat for the company from
Australian ports.

The late Mr. William Haviside Tyser, the founder of the
Tyser Line, entered the refrigerated shipping trade in 1886 —
1887 (see p. 67). The first ship which he fitted up and loaded
was the Balmoral Castle, next coming the Ashleigh Brook, and
- following. The Balmoral Castle, by the way, was the first
vessel to sail to Australia in ballast, a practice subsequently
extensively followed.

The New Zealand Services.

In 1881 the Government of New Zealand offered a subsidy
JO.OOO a year for the establishment of a service of refrige-
rated fifty-day boats, but the inducement was too slight to
attract shipowners. The honour of opening the frozen meat
trade, whicji has been of such enormous value to the Dominion,
belongs to the Shaw, Savill and Albion Co. Full particulars
appear at pp. 40 to 44 of the enterprise of the New Zealand
and Australian Land Co., and the successful co-operation of tho
shipping company as regards tho voyage of the sailer Dunedin.
Xew Zealand Shipping Co. (which had been founded by
New Zealand merchants at Christchurch in 1873) despatched

I

130 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

the second vessel with frozen meat to London, this shipment
being the company's own venture. In 1882 the company
fitted the sailing ship Mataura with Haslam's cold air refrige-
rating machinery at a cost of several thousand pounds. On the
first voyage outwards quantities of fish, poultry, and game were
carried from London. These goods were delivered in New
Zealand in excellent order and a return cargo of frozen beef
and mutton, at a freight of 2%d. per lb., was landed in London
in perfect condition. This cargo had to be frozen on board.
Captain Greenstreet, now the skipper of the s.s. Remuera, was in
charge. The first steamer fitted up for refrigerated cargoes
by the New Zealand Shipping Co. was the Fenstanton, belonging
to Watts, Milburn and Co. ; it was a tramp steamer taken
up on time charter. In January, 1883, the company despatched
the first steamer of its regular service from London, the British
King, 3,356 tons, fitted with Haslam's machinery sufficient
to carry 8,000 carcasses of sheep. The British Queen, a sister
ship, followed in March, 1883, and the White Star steamers
Ionic and Doric, vessels of 4,750 tons, were also chartered
so as to keep up the monthly service until the company could
put on steamers of their own. A fifth steamer being needed,
the Cunard liner Catalonia was taken up in 1883 for one
voyage, and even for that one voyage it was fitted up with
complete refrigerating machinery.

In the same year the company inaugurated a direct
steamer service, building five 15-knot steamers of about 4,500
tons register each, viz., the Tongariro (August, 1883), Aorangi
(October, 1883), Ruapehu (November, 1883), Kaikoura (Sep-
tember, 1884), and Rimutaka (October, 1884), all fitted with
Haslam's refrigerating machines. Three of the company's
sailing ships were also fitted with refrigerating machinery for
the carriage of frozen meat, etc. After the New Zealand
Shipping Co. had received delivery of the above-named five
steamers, the Shaw, Savill and Albion Co. continued to employ
the Ionic and Doric in the trade, and also chartered the Coptic,
besides building the Arawa and Tainui, so that the two lines,
each with five mail and passenger steamers, commenced a
regular fortnightly steam service between London and New

I

THE SHIPOWNERS' BURDEN 131

Zealand, which has been maintained without a break ever
since. At the present time all the foregoing steamers of the
New Zealand Shipping Co. have been replaced by new vessels,
bearing the same names but of about double the size.

Whilst the Shaw, Savill Co.'s own steam fleet was in prepara-
tion in 1883 — 1884, the chartered steamers Triumph, Bombay,
Victory and Florida were fitted. But these vessels were soon
replaced by the mail steamers Arawa, Tainui, Coptic, Ionic
and Doric, and these were supplemented in 1889 — 1890 by the
cargo vessels the Mamari, Maori, Matatua, Rangatira and
Pakeha. The original Arawa, Tainui, Mamari, Matatua,
Rangatira and Pakeha have gone, but bigger successors, of the
same names, do similar work to-day. The old Arawa was
fitted for 25,000 carcasses, the modern Waimana, built in 1911,
is insulated for 100,000.

The s.s. Elderslie, launched in 1884, was the first of a
fine fleet of steamers owned by the Shire Line and Messrs.
Turnbull, Martin and Co. To Mr. John Reid, of Elderslie, near
Oamaru, the credit of this enterprise must be accorded, and he
certainly must take rank as a pioneer of the trade. He persuaded
Messrs. Turnbull, Martin and Co. to build this and other
steamers, and was always in the front supplying sheep freely
from his fine estate. The other Shire liners followed quickly,
and competed with the steamers of the New Zealand Shipping
Co. and Shaw, Savill and Albion Co. Freight on the meat for the
Elderslie was reduced to 2Jrf., by the Fifeshire to 2d., and by
the next Shire Line steamer to Ifrf. Competition and the
increased tonnage available caused further reductions in the
rates steadily onwards.

Sailing: Ships as Meat Carriers. — It is noteworthy that the
early work done by the fleet of sailers in carrying frozen meat
was excellent, and these craft proved quite suited to the trade
in the early days. Certainly the 90 to 110 days' passage,
instead of the mail steamers' 40, from New Zealand, was
against thorn, but, then, the c.i.f. business and " catching the
market " were rudimentary points in the eighties. The
sailers did their refrigerating remarkably well, and the early
fleet was considerable. Messrs. Shaw, Savill and Co. (which

K*

132 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

combined with the Albion Co., to form the Shaw, Savill and
Albion Co., incorporated in 1 882) had the Dunedin, Lady Jocelyn,
Lyttelton, Invercargill, Oamaru, Northumberland, Wellington,
Tirnaru, Marlhorough, and Hinemoa. These ships carried
anything from 10,000 to 15,000 carcasses, and were fitted
with either Bell-Coleman or Haslam machines freezing on the
cold air blast system. Meat cargoes were brought home in these
boats with commendable success, but their being superseded
by steamers was hi the natural course of evolution which has
settled the fate of the older class of vessel in modern trade.
The Shaw, Savill Co. fitted up the sailer Edwin Fox as
a freezing hulk, and sent her out to New Zealand in 1885.
Subsequently the vessel was transferred to the Christchurch
Meat Co., and is still used as a hulk at Picton (see illustration
p. 60). The Timaru, after her active career as a frozen
meat carrier was over, was used as a freezing store on the
South African coast, and was wrecked in 1907. The Marl-
borough and Dunedin were lost in 1890. Another old sailing
ship, formerly employed to convey frozen meat from New
Zealand, is now the property of the Royal Mail Steam Packet
Co., and is stationed in the River Plate as a hulk, and is
called the Roihay. Before the company purchased her the
vessel was called the Duleep Singh, and was sent as a freezing
hulk to Gibraltar in 1890 by Messrs. Wills and Co.

The Evolution of the Frozen Meat Carrier.

The evolution of the frozen meat carrier is a most interest-
ing point to refer to. From the 10,000 carcasses sailing ship
" adapted " for the trade, through special sailers, like the Hinemoa
there is the development to adapted steamers like the British
Princess, Selembria, the early Shire boats, etc., to the half-and-
half (refrigerated, and/or general cargo) steamers largely used by
the New Zealand Shipping Co., and the Shaw, Savill and Albion
Co., to the very highly specialized steamers that have been
built recently for the South American frozen and chilled meat
trade.

Early refrigerating installations on board ship were, no doubt
somewhat crude, and, with engineers untrained in the new

Till-: <HIPOWNERS* BURDKN

branch of tlioir profession, the difficulties met with must have
been many. Captain Whitaon's experiences on the Duncdin,
recorded in another part of this book, are an instance. But the
engineers did their work well, as the meat was brought in sound
condition in the j^rcnt majority of cases. l"p to tin; Ix-umnitin
of 1884 only nine cargoes had been delivered in " unsatisfactory
condition." Some of the damage to the meat was done in
transit between the works and the ship, and there was the
fault of insufficient freezing in the case of the meat brought to
London by the Mataura in 1883. The trade circulars of the
time reported as follows : " Imperfectly prepared for the
voyage ; about 4,000 carcasses had to be destroyed on arrival."
By those who remember the large number of cargoes which
arrived in bad condition in the nineties, the contrast of the
cleaner record of the shipments made in the previous decade
may seem remarkable. As a matter of fact, if an exact com-
parison of percentages of unsound arrivals were made over the
two periods, it would probably be found that the later term did
not show a larger percentage of casualties ; the volume of the
trade was much bigger than in the eighties, consequently
the failures loomed larger. However, three reasons have been
assigned for the trouble which became so apparent in the
nineties. By those well qualified to judge, the cause was said
to be partly the fitting of the ships, partly the refrigerating
machinery, and partly — perhaps, principally — the indifferent
preparation and handling of the meat just prior to exporta-
tion. With the old sailers freezing was done on board at the
port of shipment, but in the case of the steamers the meat
was frozen ashore, and it is thought that insufficient refrigera-
tion of the carcasses before their stowage in the steamers' holds
was often responsible for their bad carriage. The reliable
working of the old refrigerating machinery installed in the
ships on the cold air blast system in the earlier days of the
trade is a bright feature of the industry, and some of the old
machines continue to do good service right up to the present
time. For instance, only to mention four Shaw, Savill boats ;
the Waiwera (capacity 80,000 carcasses), Tokomaru (85,000
carcasses), Kuinara (75,000 carcasses), and Karamea (75,000

134 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

carcasses), are still carrying meat cargoes efficiently frozen by
the old Haslam cold air machine.

Contrasting the early days' difficulties with the smoothness
which characterizes the conditions of to-day, Mr. J. A. Potter,
general manager of the Shaw, Savill and Albion Co., sends the
following remarks : —

" In the absence of freezing works ashore, and the consequent
initial freezing and preparation of the carcasses on board, great
delay in loading was caused, and even steamers for a time had
to perform this work. But soon freezing works ashore
began to be erected, and gradually all cargoes were prepared
prior to shipment, and sent in a frozen state to the carrying
vessel. In the early days of the industry complete or partial
failure at times took place due to some breakdown of machinery
imperfect preparation of the carcasses, faulty insulation, etc.,
but with the growth of the trade experience and science brought
knowledge, and to-day it is marvellous with what certainty such
a delicate article of commerce can be conveyed in perfect
condition from one end of the world to the other. Mutton,
lamb, beef, butter, cheese, and delicate fruits, are shipped at
the far Antipodes with a practical certainty that they will be
put on the English market in the same state of preservation as
they would be if offered for sale at the place of production."

The evolution of the modern frozen or chilled meat carrier
has been a gradual process, in which details have one by one
been revised in accordance with the march of modern invention
and the discovery of the more up-to-date appliances employed
in mechanical refrigeration. In the early eighties mail
steamers were fitted with limited refrigerated accommodation,
e.g., in 1884 the Arawa and the Tainui, which have been already
referred to ; and it was then thought that about 15,000 carcasses
refrigerated capacity was sufficient. Ideas grew, and following
the equipment of the early mail steamers came the pressing
into refrigerated service of cargo steamers, later coming the
boats built especially for cold storage transport, of which the
latest examples carry huge cargoes considerably in advance of
100,000 carcasses.

It will enable the reader to gain some idea of the great

1

THE SHIPOWNERS' BURDEN 135

progress made with the frozen meat carrier since its first
conception thirty years ago, if he remembers that from 1885 to
1888 a 4,000-ton dead weight steamer was a big vessel. Ships
were then constructed to carry the maximum quantity of
dead weight on tin- minimum net register. Consequently they
had the minimum amount of cabin capacity within their
dimensions. When frozen meat became a factor in the steam
carrying trade, it was found that, as it required 160 cubic feet,
including refrigerating apparatus and insulation, to carry
20 cwte. of meat, it was advisable to increase the number of
decks within the dimensions of the vessel. This was effected
by putting on a shade deck, which filled up the space between
the forecastle and the short bridge and the deck, and making it
a continuous deck, thereby forming, as it were, another storey in
the vessel, this giving roughly 25 to 33 per cent, more cubic
capacity than the old style. On top of this shade deck was
put a small forecastle, and possibly a small bridge, which would
carry the officers of the steamer, the question of stability being
provided for by increasing the beam to counteract the extra
height. To-day the modern steamer is roughly eight to nine
beams in her length, whereas in the old days she was nine to
ten, and possibly a little more.

The Shipowner as Merchant.

There have been times in which the shipowner in his con-
nection with the frozen meat trade has turned merchant.
About twenty years ago, say, 1891, the three regular lines
carrying meat from New Zealand began to buy, in order to fill
their ships. They were forced to do so, otherwise their ships
would have sailed for London with empty holds. Even
previous to this they had taken an interest in the meat by
receiving freight on a sliding scale according to the price
realized. The reason for such action could well be understood,
and the later development of the same general policy was
shown by the tendency of shipowners to finance the erec-
tion of works, recouping themselves by freight contracts
securing the output. The case against the shipowner actually

competing with his clients is very strong, and no circum-
stances but the most unusual and compelling could justify
such a departure from mercantile ethics. There are other
instances of shipowners in the Australasian trade acting in
this dual capacity. One of these relates to the shipments
of frozen beef from Queensland to Vladivostock, in regard to
which, perhaps, one may say that as this was a new departure,
as well as speculative, and probably temporary in character,
the element of competition with the merchant did not arise,
at least, in a marked degree.

In 1894, owing to exceptionally heavy imports of meat
from Australia, the London cold stores became choked with
meat, and the vessels as they arrived in the Thames were
unable to discharge their cargo. This state of affairs marked
one of the most serious crises the frozen meat trade has passed
through. The same position was, as a matter of fact, within
an ace of occurring in 1909, but by that time the capacity of the
stores had greatly increased. On the earlier occasion referred
to above, vessels had to be used as stores, and lay for weeks on
demurrage. This might suit the shipowner in some instances,
but not those having to work a regular service on time
tables. Such owners could not get their ships discharged,
and their arrangements were completely upset, while, to make
matters still more awkward for them, some clients who had
sold their meat insisted on delivery. This could not be effected,
because the meat was under that of other consignees who were
unable to authorize landing, having no store room obtainable.
The shipowner in such circumstances stood to be shot at by the
consignees who were losing their market, for he could not throw
the meat of the others out on the quay.

Freights.

Freights fell, of course, as frozen meat cargo became regular
and bulky. On the first shipment from New Zealand, that of
the Dunedin, the freight was 2^d. ; steamers of the same line
are carrying meat to-day at \d. The freight on the first meat
vessel from the Plate, the s.s. Meath, was 2%d. In 1891 New
Zealand mutton freight was reduced to Id., by 1894 to feZ.,

Yin -IIFPOWNERS' BURDEN 187

and by 1807 to Jrf. The present rate of freight on frozen meat
from Australia to United Kingdom ports, say jjd. per lb., and
\$d. to Mediterranean ports, shippers consider too high. It la
only the great quantities of meat carried, and the construction
of specially designed steamers, that allow of more moderate
rates being fixed. Shipowners, when asked, say that frozen
HH-.-it is not a " good paying freight." An occurrence which
would seem to fortify this assertion was the taking out of the
refrigerating machinery from the sailer Hinemoa some yean
ago, the owner, Mr. Leslie, declaring that ordinary cargo would
pay better. Still, for the splendid and well-equipped vessels
of the lines bringing food products from South America and
Australasia there can be no doubt that the frozen meat trade
has been a very profitable occupation indeed, and responsible to
no small extent for the development of the " refrigerated fleet."

Multiplicity of Marks.

One of the greatest burdens the shipowners have to bear,
with what philosophy they may — in the New Zealand and
Australian trade — is the excessive sub-division of the mutton
and lamb consignments into marks. The system has come
about through the personal part which the farmers (mainly
in New Zealand) take in the business. Where the growers
sell their stock to the freezing works, as is the case invariably
in Argentina, and usually in Australia, the grouping of the
carcasses into separate parcels and the placing of distin-
guishing marks on them is only governed in the main by
the consignees to whom they go. But the way in which the
New Zealand trade is done involves the division, to a consider-
able degree, of the frozen meat shipments from a works. There
may be scores of c.i.f. buyers interested in the meat shipped in
a liner by one of the freezing establishments, and such lots have
to be " delivered to marks." This is bad enough, but where the
shipowner — and the subsequent handlers, too — find this split-
ting up maddening is when the New Zealand farmer sends in his
few sheep— frequently less than a hundred — to the works, and
upon those carcasses being specially marked, and each

138 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

grade of weight and quality kept separate. It is natural, perhaps,
that he should desire that an account sales should reach him,
giving the sale price of each class of carcass in his particular
lot ; but his action places an almost unbearable burden upon the
various agents he employs to put his meat on the English
market, namely, the shipowner, the storekeeper, and the con-
signee. In the course of the discussion of a paper on " The
Inspection and Distribution of Meat Foods," read by Mr. F.
Knowles before the Cold Storage and Ice Association in April,
1910, a speaker said that on one occasion, owing to the multi-
plicity of marks occurring in a frozen meat cargo arriving at
Liverpool, it had taken him a whole week to get 2,000 lambs
from a ship, and all that time he had been constantly travelling
between Liverpool and Manchester. Carters sometimes aban-
doned altogether contracts for carrying such meat to store
because of the delay in discharging from the vessel owing to
the marks difficulty.

To take an actual shipment of mutton from New Zealand in
1909 from one of the North Island Works, for 6,000 carcasses
there were no less than 460 different marks. Again, in the case
of one bill of lading for 211 sheep, altering the marks and
numbers, this is how the division was made : —

HFC

Pakeha
2 Ships

HFC

2 Ships
HFC

Sheep.

425/1

4

HFC

425/7

27

Pakeha

425/3

8

425/9

3

HFC

425/4

7

,,

425/1

3

M

425

2

»

640/1

22

2 Ships

640/7

29

640/3

20

HFC

640/9

6

„

640/5

2

,,

640

16

»

705/1

2

HFC

705/7

1

Sheep.

705/4

4

705/1

2

680/1

3

680/7

9

680/3

12

680/9

8

680/5

1

680

8

120/1

2

120/7

1

120/3

1

120/4

6

720/4

2

211 0/8

Now, in all the processes through which these carcasses pass
from works to market, "HFC 705/7 " (one sheep) has got

THE SHIPWVM It- HI IU)KN 139

to be kept separate. That IB the theory, but at times it i •
absolutely impossible to do so, and it is to be feared that

II F C 705/7" gets mixed up with other goods. It is
obvious that such a system of business is faulty ; it would be
so with any description of merchandise, more or less, but \\ith
I •«•!•! -liable produce like frozen meat it is often fatal. The great
thing with refrigerated meat is to save handling, and multi-
plicity of marks makes for handling. An enormous amount
of sorting over of meat cargoes takes place at the point of
discharge before "HFC 705/7 " and its fellows can be got
at, and in this sorting over the meat gets damaged. This matter
is mentioned here not only to record an existing feature of the
trade, but to urge strongly upon all parties in the New Zealand
trade to see if the farmers cannot preserve their own individual
interests by other means. There is no doubt that New Zealand
meat suffers greatly from the way in which it has to be handled
in separate lots ; exposure to the atmosphere causes much loss
of bloom. The bright ruddy appearance of a newly arrived
crossbred sheep is a wonderful market asset. Canterbury,
New Zealand, has been the centre of this sub-division system.
In 1907 the shipowners began to take action, and since then the
question has been constantly discussed, and conferences with
merchants have been held. In the Australian trade, where the
shipowners were unhampered by contracts, they took action
by stamping bills of lading to the effect that they would not
be responsible for sub-marks. A " sorting store " at the Dock
stores in London was mooted in 1892 and later, in order to deal
with this difficulty, but clashings of interests and the small
extra expense per carcass involved prevented reform being
carried out. In 1899 the marks trouble became very pro-
nounced and shipowners threatened " pooling " the cargoes.

A scheme to adopt special stripes varying in design and
colour for use on the meat wraps, so as to provide one distin-
guishing and easily visible brand for each works was suggested
in 1909 — 1910, and met with the approval of shipowners in
principle, but in working out the details many trivial objec-
tions were raised which still remain to be dealt with before
the shippers will willingly adopt the recommendation. It has

140 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

much to commend it as a means of lessening the handling
at this end.

Many of the criticisms made of London methods of
discharge would have no existence but for the continued use
of so many distinctive marks in each cargo— especially from
New Zealand. The endless sub-divisions employed are an
anachronism — relics of the youthful days of the trade when
the farmer was the freezing company. Argentina, Uruguay,
Patagonia, all ship in big lines of 500 to 1,000 or even 5,000
carcasses of one mark. Until Australia and New Zealand can
act similarly, they will be handicapped in their efforts to secure
the trade of the big retailers.

The Shipowner and the South American Meat Trade.

In 1883, when the first shipments of frozen meat were ready
to be despatched from the Campana works, Buenos Aires, there
were no shipowners with sufficient knowledge of the possibilities
of the new industry to induce them to instal refrigerating
machinery and insulation in their steamers at their own expense,
so the shippers — the River Plate Fresh Meat Co. — had to put
in the machines, etc., themselves. Their initial shipment, in
1883, was brought by the s.s. Meath, as stated earlier in this
book. The vessel arrived in London in January, 1884, via
Antwerp, where she had discharged some meat. The s.s. Meath
and the s.s. Wexford — the next vessel — both owned by Mr. R.
M. Hudson, of Sunderland, and running under Messrs. Houlders'
contract, continued in the regular Plate trade until 1886, and
for many years afterwards as independent units available for
chartering to any part of the world. In addition to these
vessels were the s.s. Zenobia and Zephyrus, which were fitted
with Haslam cold air machinery. The " Z " boats, owned by
Messrs. Turner, Brightman and Co., were, and are still, taken by
the River Plate Fresh Meat Co. on long time charters ; except-
ing the s.s. Zephyrus and Zenobia, which ran under the Houlder
contract until 1893, the various " Z " boats have practically
been built for the company. The s.s. Zephyrus, by the way, is
still bringing frozen meat from Argentina — though not now on

THK SHIPOWNERS' BURDEN 141

account of the River Plate Co. — after twenty-eight yean of
good service as a meat carrier, with the original Haslam
machinery on board. The River Plate Co. put Haa lam's refri-
gerating machinery and insulation into ten of the " Z " boats.
lYom about 1909 the owners of the line have installed the
machinery and insulation.

Messrs. Houlder were associated with the conveying of the
first shipments of frozen meat from the River Plate. As
mentioned above, Messrs. Houlder contracted to bring to the
United Kingdom the first shipments from the Campana Works,
and their chartered vessels, the Meath and the Wexford, there-
fore, had pride of place in opening the South American trade.
Referring to the Houlder Lane, the s.s. Hornby Orange and
Ovingdean Orange were the pioneer ships in the refrigerated
produce trade of the service, these vessels being fitted in 1890
and 1895 respectively. Ever since that year the Houlder Lone
steamers have held a very important position in the South
American frozen meat trade, conveying meat on contract
to the ports of the United Kingdom for the various frigorificos.
For example, they have had carrying contracts with one of the
largest Argentine frozen meat exporting firms for the past
sixteen or seventeen years, and with the freezing works at
Monte Video from the time of their erection. At the present
time, as far as the service to the " outports " is concerned, the
Houlder Line is running a refrigerated boat every three weeks
to Liverpool and Cardiff, and one also every three weeks to
Southampton, London, and Newcastle. At the time this book
goes to press the Houlder Line owns the frozen meat carrier
possessing a larger refrigerated capacity than any other >hip
in the world ; this is the Sutherland Grange, which has an
insulated capacity of 397,000 cubic feet.

Messrs. R. P. Houston and Co. (Houston Line) were one of the
first firms to insulate and fit their steamers for the conveyance of
frozen meat from the Argentine Republic to ports in the United
Kingdom ; this was in the year 1884, and they then fitted up
four steamers, the first one being the Heaperides. Mr. R. P.
Houston, M.P., was in Buenos Aires in the early part of 1884,
and he arranged a contract for a period with the late Senor

142 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

Don Francisco de Sansinena for the conveyance of frozen meat
to this country. The first live cattle ever shipped from the
River Plate to Europe were carried by a Houston Line steamer
and landed at Dunkirk in the year 1884.

The first steamer of the Lamport and Holt line to carry meat
from South America was the Thales, in 1887. The European
ports to which the refrigerated vessels of this service now run are
Southampton and Liverpool. With the delivery of the two new
twin screw steamers, Vauban and Vestris, the service will be
a four-weekly one, calling at Lisbon, Vigo, and Cherbourg with
passengers, and Southampton and Liverpool with passengers
and frozen and chilled produce.

Messrs. H. and W. Nelson, Ltd., as managers of two impor-
tant refrigerated steamship services from the River Plate to
England, have played a prominent part in the Argentine
carrying trade. Formed in the early nineties, for the purpose
of carrying frozen meat from Argentina for Messrs. James Nelson
and Sons, Ltd., Messrs. H. and W. Nelson later contracted
with other meat companies, and fortnightly and weekly services
are run respectively by the two lines they manage, the Nelson
Line (Liverpool), Ltd., and the Nelson Steam Navigation Co.,
Ltd., of London. The latter company was formed in 1910 to
acquire from the Nelson Line (London), Ltd., a company regis-
tered in the same year, nine new steamers, each of a refrigerated
capacity of 330,000 cubic feet, and fitted with ammonia com-
pression refrigerating machinery by the Liverpool Refrigeration
Co., Ltd., and also a tenth steamer to complete a weekly
service to London. With these boats, which are a most modern
and well-equipped type of the chilled meat carrier, were acquired
freight contracts with the Swift Beef Co., the La Blanca Co.,
the Smithfield and Argentine Meat Co., and the Frigorifico
Argentine. The first boat run by Messrs. H. and W. Nelson
was the Highland Scot, in which cold air refrigerating machinery
was installed by Messrs. J. and E. Hall.

The Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. first entered the refrige-
rated trade in 1883, and the first vessel fitted was the s.s. Tagus.
The mail steamers of the line, which carry meat to Southampton
only, take twenty-one days from the River Plate ; the cargo

THE SHIPOWNERS' BURDEN 143

reesels, despatched to Southampton, London, and Hull, take
twenty-eight days. The ships of this company carry meat for
t lu« various Argentine meat companies, under long contracts.

The Chargeurs Rcunis, a French line which runs from South
America to Havre, via London and Hull, carries chilled
and frozen meat for the Compania Sansinena de Games
Congeladas.

The Argentine Cargo line, controlled by Messrs. Furness,
Withy and Co., and Messrs. Birt, Potter and Hughes, has
vessels carrying refrigerated meat from Argentina to London.
A new line is to be started about June, 1912, which Messrs.
Furness, Withy, and Co. and Messrs. Birt, Potter and Hughes,
Ltd., will control ; this will run from South America to Liver-
pool in less than twenty-one days. Five vessels for this
SIT vice are being fitted out, or are in hand, which will each
have a cubic capacity of 400,000. Arrangements have been
made so that the vessels of this line will be despatched alter-
nately with those of the Royal Mail Co. at weekly intervals.
These steamers are intended chiefly for the conveyance of
chilled beef.

Messrs. R. M. Hudson and Sons also run a regular line of
cargo vessels in the Argentine meat trade.

Shipping Arrangements of the South American Frigorificos.
— In a previous paragraph appears a note concerning the way
in which the company which first began the regular despatch of
frozen meat from Argentina, the River Plate Fresh Meat Co.,
manages its ocean transport. The Compania Sansinena de
Carnes Congeladas have shipped their frozen and chilled meat
largely by Messrs. Houlder's steamers, and also by the Chargeurs
Reunis boats, though the company uses other lines of vessels
too. In the early days Messrs. Houston's steamers were
employed. The company despatches its meat from its Argen-
tine and Uruguayan works to London, Liverpool, Cardiff, Hull,
Newcastle, and Southampton. Messrs. James Nelson and Sons
have shipped meat regularly from the Las Palmas works by
the vessels of the Nelson Line ; the bulk of the meat from these
works is conveyed to Liverpool. The first shipments de-
spatched were in 1888, and the s.s. JKannioor, of the Lamport and

144 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

Holt line, was the vessel that brought the initial shipment,
which was on account of Nelson's River Plate Meat Co.

The other Argentine freezing works, formed in comparatively
modern times, those of the La Plata, La Blanca, Smithfield
and Argentine, and Frigorifico Argentino companies, despatch
their frozen and chilled meat to British ports by the various
lines above mentioned. Their shipments to Continental ports
are carried by specially chartered British steamers and by the
Italian or Austrian-owned liners.

The two freezing works in the Straits of Magellan, at Rio
Seco and San Gregorio, despatch their frozen meat to Liverpool
by the Houlder steamers, and by other steamers specially
chartered from time to time.

The Venezuelan Meat and Products Syndicate ships its meat
from the works at Puerto Cabello to Southampton by the
Royal Mail liners, and to Liverpool and the Continent by the
new s.s. Imataka, belonging to Messrs. Brooker Brothers, and
McConnell, Ltd.

Rates of Freight. — The usual plan in shipping frozen meat
on the steamers in the Argentine trade is for the shippers to
engage a certain space for a definite period. This space has
to be filled on each voyage, or dead freight has to be paid.
The present rate of freight on frozen meat may be stated as
fd. per Ib. for mutton and beef. Chilled beef pays }%d., or
%\\d. per Ib. on the basis of 105 cubic feet to the ton. Frozen
meat stows in about 105 cubic feet to the ton, whereas
chilled beef occupies from 170 to 200 cubic feet to the ton.

Long contracts are customary in the Argentine trade, usually
for five years. It may be mentioned that there is little " ship
damage " to meat from South America ; this may be accounted
for by the fact that the whole shipload of meat frequently
represents the loading of one works, or, at most, of three
works. The average length of voyage of a cargo vessel bringing
meat from Argentina is twenty-six to twenty-eight days to the
first English port.

CHAPTER X

THE UNDERWRITERS' RISK

IT is possible that this subject is not considered as closely by
the grower of the meat as, with advantage, it might be. For
instance, the New Zealand farmer takes a deal of interest in
the marketing at Smithfield of his frozen meat, but shipping
and insuring he leaves to his agents. The producer, by get t ing
to note the points where friction occurs, might help the business
along. As it is plain that heavy insurance charges must react
unfavourably on the profits of the producer, it is a matter for
comment that growers of meat in Australia and New Zealand
have never attempted to grapple seriously with the conditions
which have not only prevented insurance rates falling of late
years but have actually sent them up. More satisfactory
conditions of insurance would certainly be the outcome of
businesslike and combined efforts for reform by the parties
concerned ; not alone by the growers, but to some extent the
merchants and agents who put the meat through. Take 1909,
when a great outcry was raised in Sydney concerning damaged
meat from Australia arriving in Great Britain. The Chamber
of Commerce in Sydney took the matter up, and a committee
of investigation was formed. Well, the circumstances respon-
sible for the imperfect handling of the meat had been in exist-
ence for years ; there was absolutely nothing new, yet the
meat exporters and shipping merchants apparently were
" surprised " to hear of such a state of affairs. There were
few who knew anything at all about the trade who were
unacquainted with the weaknesses of the export trade as it
was carried on in New South Wales, and the recommendations
of the Sydney Chamber of Commerce committee revealed the
evils existing. For instance, here are a few sample points
urged : — That proper provision should be made at the new

F.M. L

146 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

abattoirs for weighing and grading meat ; that the Government
should not allow emaciated or poor-conditioned carcasses to
be ticketed with the Government label for export ; that the
vans carrying lamb carcasses from abattoirs to freezing works
should not be overloaded ; that the existing methods of carting
and lightering meat from the freezing chambers to export
vessels in open wagons and lighters was unsatisfactory ; and so
on. Such weak points had existed in the light of day, yet
it was only the tireless wielding of such trenchant pens as
that of Captain A. W. Pearse that secured due notice of the
misdeeds wrought in the name of refrigerated export.

The issues with which this chapter is concerned are at times
so involved that the Courts of Law have to be visited in order
to get judicial ruling. From 1880 onwards the insurance of
frozen meat has presented peculiar difficulties, and the under-
writer has been slow to adapt himself to the situation satis-
factorily to all interests in this new section of his business. The
frozen meat trade is even yet a new one, and before it settles
down quite permanently into its groove in the commercial
world all the mercantile methods by which it is handled must
become more defined and scientifically sound.

Early Insurance Covers.

The pioneer shipment by the Dunedin from New Zealand
was insured at £5 5s. per cent., as stated in Chapter II., and
the first shipment of the Mataura in 1883 from New Zealand
was insured for £4,000 by seven offices at £7 7s. per cent.,
w.p.a. Insurance was effected then by local insurance com-
panies. A little later the premium, for " all risks " policies,
reverted to £5 5s. per cent. By 1886 the export of meat from
New Zealand had, according to the Otago Marine Underwriters'
Association, become so well understood that many of the risks
incidental to the introduction of the business had entirely
disappeared. Commenting on this, the Australasian Insurance
and Banking Record in 1897 observed that " consignees had
not at that time educated themselves up to their present high
standard in the science of claim making." Generally speaking,

THE UNDERWRITERS* RISK 147

for the first ten years there was not much to complain about
in the tarrying of the New Zealand cargoes; from 1882 to
1887, out of 172 shipments only nine were returned as in
" unsatisfactory condition," that is to say, thoroughly unsatis-
factory condition. But the Australian records do not read so
\\rll , from 1880 to 1887, out of 127 shipments there were
nineteen cargoes on the black list.

Steadily in the nineties this " unsatisfactory condition " of
the meat on arrival increased, as will be seen from the following
quotation from the Australian and New Zealand Underwriters'
Association report for 1895 : — " Frozen Meat. — It would be
impossible to omit from this report reference to the subject
of frozen meat, the most absorbing, interesting, and perplexing,
of the year. Notwithstanding the constant, anxious, and
varied attention given to it, the experience of the past twelve
months has shown how baffled have been all the attempts made
to bring the treatment of this interest into a satisfactory con-
dition. Vast as is the trade, paramount in its importance to
the colonies, and of momentous consequence to the carrying
companies, it must yet be reported that, with all these interests
in combination to make their efforts a success, disappointment
and failure has been the result."

Insurance matters continued unsatisfactory till 1895, when
the underwriters drew up and adopted a new clause, which
cleverly met the difficulty of how to exclude certain cold stores
in which damage to frozen meat had occurred. Appended to
the clause was a list of " approved " stores. In the clause the
period of insurance on the meat after landing was cut down to
sixty days as a maximum ; " bone taint " was excluded. But
the passing of this clause did not improve matters, and claims
became heavier and heavier. The underwriters thought they
were being victimized by market practices in assessing damage,
which in those days was done on the market on the basis of
" sound values." The underwriters considered that high
" sound values " were engineered so as to throw into strong
relief the goods to be surveyed. So they amended the frozen
meat clause once again (1897), and fixed thirty days from
ship's arrival as the outside period of cover ; at the same time

L 2

148 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

they insisted that the meat should be surveyed, and any
damage assessed in store and not on the market.

A market annual for 1897 stated that on the frozen meat
imported from Australia from February to March and from
June to November a depreciation equal to %d. per Ib. on 750,000
carcasses had taken place through faulty condition ; out of
forty-six cargoes, twenty-one contained meat which was con-
demned. In the following year 20 per cent, of the meat
cargoes arrived in a damaged state.

In referring further to insurance premiums, it may be stated
that in December, 1895, the sailing vessel Hinemoa carried
frozen mutton and lamb from Melbourne to London, and then
the rate was 90s. per cent., with 10s. per cent, extra for the
proportion frozen on board. Fifteen months later the same
vessel lifted another cargo, when the rates were 65s. net for
mutton and lamb, and 85s. net for beef.

In 1897 the Hinemoa took another loading insured at 90s.
per cent., and in March following, the Opawa, also a sailer,
carried meat to Durban insured at £5 5s. per cent. Steamers
in the meantime began to cater more for the trade, and with
the growth of competition amongst underwriters rates were
gradually reduced. In March, 1898, the first frozen meat
tariff came into force. The " all risks " rate on mutton to the
United Kingdom was then fixed at 47s. 6d. for works, voyage,
and thirty days' storage by P. and 0. steamers, 70s. by other
steamers and regular liners.

Claims, Surveys, and Allowances.

The adjustment of claims has always been a very sore point.
When the surveys and allowances were made on the market,
the importers' theory was that only when loss was actually
made in retailing the meat would allowances be claimed ; if the
meat was accepted by retail buyers as sound nothing could be
claimed. But when it was decided by underwriters, in face
of opposition from traders, that surveys must be held in store,
the consignees, to protect themselves against possible loss,

1111 UNDERWRITERS' RISK 149

necessarily made claims upon " estimated losses " before sale.
This system has prevailed ever since. Consignees protested
against the thirty days' limit, but the insurance people were
obdurate. Meat condemned by the sanitary authorities was
limited in claims under the new arrangements to the current
" sound value," thus reducing what proved to be in some
oaooo excessive insurance to the actual value on a lower market.
The cost of survey in store was fixed at £1 Is. per 1,000 car-
casses " surveyed " ; the consignee and the underwriter were
both represented at the survey, and the underwriters paid the
survey expenses of both parties. This practice existed up to
1909.

In connection with the general question of damage to frozen
meat in Australian shipments, it is well to chronicle here the
action taken by the New South Wales Freezing Companies'
Association in 1899. With a view to checking the damage to
frozen meat, which at that time passed all bearing, the Associa-
tion sent to London Mr. C. C. Tayloe, of Sydney, who urged
the extension of the Association's operations to London. This
was effected, and on March 25, 1899, Mr. Septimus Merriman,
the London secretary of the Association, issued a circular
letter informing the trade what had been done. A scheme was
worked out showing a contemplated expenditure of £4,000 a
year. Surveyors in Sydney and London were to inspect the
loading and discharging of the Sydney-shipped meat. The
Miiveys were to include examination of ships' refrigerating
machinery and insulation — " supervision of all means of
carriage from steamer to store." It was a point of the pro-
gramme to get shippers to insure f.p.a., and under this it was
hoped to bring down rates to 255. and 20s. respectively for local
companies and Lloyd's. " Shippers must remember," ran the
dn-ular, " that with the proposed clause it will be everyone's
interest from first to last not to have claims." The proposal
of the Association was never entirely put into operation,
i-hkfly because it was urged that steps be first taken to put
things right in Sydney. This most rational step did not
commend itself to the promoters, and the whole scheme
gradually died a natural death.

150 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

Allusion may be made to the proposal put forward by
importers about the middle of the nineties to form in London
the "Australasian Frozen Meat Insurance Co." with a capital
of £100,000. The idea was that co-operation introduced into
underwriting would provide the panacea required. Many well-
known firms discussed preliminaries, but the affair did not take
definite shape.

With the opening of the new century improvement took
place in the general conditions of handling frozen meat through-
out the various stages of the industry. A better class of vessel
was brought into service, fitted in a more modern style ; some
of the older ships conveying meat were under-powered for the
refrigerating work they had to do. New well-equipped cold
stores were built, and transport arrangements at the ports of
debarkation were also improved. • Barges and vans were more
efficiently insulated, and lightermen were instructed to proceed
to their respective stores (when the tide permitted) after work
at ship's side had finished for the day ; that is, they did not
remain in dock all night waiting for a complete load on the
following day. Also on arrival at the store the barges were
unloaded immediately. With these reforms the " unsatisfactory
cargoes," heard of so much from 1885 to 1899, were seldom
recorded. The two great " Lloyd " institutions — Lloyd's,
the underwriters at the Royal Exchange, and Lloyd's Register
of British and Foreign Shipping — played a prominent and
useful part in improving matters. Lloyd's underwriters at that
time really took little or no interest in the improvements
referred to — in fact, many of them permitted meat to be ware-
housed in unapproved stores. Any action that was taken
was at the initiative of the Institute of London Underwriters,
which organization is the mouthpiece of Lloyd's underwriters.
The Institute of London Underwriters required the barges
and cold stores to be surveyed and reports submitted to
them before admittance on the approved list could be
granted. Arrangements were made between the shipowners
and Lloyd's Register for Lloyd's surveyors at different world's
ports to undertake an inspection of the refrigerating and
insulating fittings of steamers. This examination being

THE I \D1.K\\ HI I IK- 1M>K 151

concluded satisfactorily, the ship was from the point of view
of freezing machinery and insulation " seaworthy."

In 1908 there were several serious accidents to Australasian
steamers and consequent heavy claims on underwriters. As a
consequence, insurance rates were put up from 37s. 6d. per cent,
to 45*. per cent, from New Zealand and from 50s. per cent, to
600. per cent, from Australia. The insurance position and the
feeling in the trade one sees in the following extract from the
annual review issued by Messrs. W. Weddel and Co. for 1908 : —
" Until underwriters will differentiate between good and bad
risks at the various works, on the various ships, and in the
various stores engaged in the trade, instead of treating all their
risks as equal, very little inducement is offered to any individual
to lay out money in order to increase his precautions against
damage. Underwriters have recently taken steps to bring
home to individual shipowners their responsibility for damage
done in transit. Were some similar course adopted to fix
responsibility for specific damage done in any freezing works or
stores and adjust rates accordingly, much good would result
to underwriters and to the trade as a whole. With the experi-
ence of refrigeration now acquired, there ought to be no serious
damage to frozen meats, and but little to chilled, except in
cases where an unforeseen accident happens."

Underwriters were restless about this time, and in 1909 they
put in force their new clause, which introduced some drastic
changes pressing hard on the trade. They stated that the
insurance of meat did not pay them, and that the new regulations
were brought into the policy to make the business profitable.
Negotiations took place between the importers, under the
auspices of the Frozen Meat Trade Association, and the Institute
of London Underwriters, but the insurance interests were
obdurate, and the new clause gradually worked into the
Australasian frozen meat industry. Some of the changes were
welcomed by all, such as the one insisting that in loading and
discharge only trucks, vans, and barges which were provided
with efficient insulation were to be used.

152 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE
The A 1 Clause.

CLAUSES FOE UNITED KINGDOM SHIPMENTS.

FROZEN MUTTON, LAMB, BEEP, VEAL AND PORK.

Clause A 1 — (Freezing Works, Voyage and 60 Days).

1. The risk commences from the time the interest is passed into the Cooling
and/or Freezing Chambers of the Works at and, unless previously terminated,
continues on board the vessel and/or in Refrigerating Stores in the United Kingdom
(subject to the conditions hereinafter mentioned) for a period not exceeding
60 days (warranted not more than 30 days on board the vessel) from arrival of
vessel at destination as per policy, provided always :

2. That it is warranted by the Assured that the meat is in good condition and
properly dressed, cooled, and frozen at the Freezing Works, and that the period
between the time the risk commences and shipment on ocean-going vessel shall not
exceed 60 days.

3. That where the interest has to be conveyed by rail and/or street vans and/or
lighters prior to shipment by oversea vessel, such railway trucks and/or street vans
and/or lighters must be insulated, otherwise an additional premium of 10/- per cent.
to be paid ; and after discharge from the vessel the interest shall be carried in
insulated street vans and/or insulated lighters, otherwise an additional premium of
10/- per cent, to be paid.

4. That the cold stores in the United Kingdom shall be approved by the Institute
of London Underwriters.

5. That any disposal of the interest at destination other than by storage as above
(except with the consent of the Underwriters) or any removal of the interest from
the cold stores at destination previous to the expiry of the 60 days above mentioned
terminates the insurance on such meat, and no claim for damage shall attach,
unless, immediately on the first discovery of any damage to or deterioration of any
part of the interest hereby insured, notice shall have been given to the Underwriters,
and the amount of depreciation agreed to by them prior to the termination of the
insurance.

6. During the period (if any) between assessment of depreciation and termination
of the insurance the risks covered hereunder are those of fire and breakdown of
machinery only.

7. That in the event of interest being transhipped, or forwarded on to destination
in the United Kingdom by rail, no risk to attach hereunder unless notice of such
transhipment or rail carriage be given to the London Representative of the
Company prior to commencement of such risk, the transhipment or forwarding to
be only by steamer fitted with refrigerating machinery or by rail in properly
insulated vans. An extra premium at the rate of 20/- per cent, to be paid for
such risk.

8. That the value to be made good in the case of meat condemned on or after
arrival shall in no case exceed the sound market value, less usual charges.

9. That no adjustment charges shall be incurred unless with the written
consent of Underwriters who shall not be liable for survey fees other than those
of their own surveyors.

9A. That in the event of any claim for loss before shipment, or for damage in
consequence of which the meat is not shipped, the same shall be adjusted on the
basis of the actual values at the time and place of such loss or damage (plus any

1111 UNDER WRITERS' RISK 1 '» J

freight payable whether the meat bo shipped or not, and charge*) irrespective of
any other value declared in the policy.

10. The insurance COTCTS low from defective condition of the meat from every
cause (except bone-taint and improper dressing, cooling and freezing), which
shall arise daring the currency of the insurance, but always subject to the Free of
Capture and Seizure Clause.

11. Average payable if amounting to 3 per cent, on each carcass, and/or two
half carcasses, and/or four haunches, and/or eight legs mutton or lamb, and/or
each package beef, veal or pork, and/or each valuation separately, and/or on the
whole.

12. The Underwriters to be credited with any compensation or allowance
obtainable from the Shipowner in respect of average attaching hereto.

I:?. It is hereby agreed that, unless expressly otherwise stated herein, carcasses
or pieces comprised in any one mark and valuation, or carcasses or pieces of various
marks comprising one valuation, shall, for purposes of average adjustment, be
deemed of the same weight and insured value.

14. Including all liberties as per Bills of Lading or Contract of Affreightment
(subject to additional premiums, if any, as per tariff) but it is warranted that the
obligation of the Shipowner to provide a seaworthy vessel fit to carry the cargo
shall be fully preserved in such Bills of Lading or Contract of Affreightment.

15. General Average and Salvage Charges payable as per foreign statement if so
claimed, or per York-Antwerp Rules if in accordance with the Contract of
Affreightment.

I''-. In the event of the vessel making any deviation or change of voyage, it is
mutually agreed that such deviation or change shall be held covered at a premium
to be arranged, provided due notice be given by the Assured on receipt of advice
of such deviation or change of voyage.

17. In the event of damage notice to be immediately given to The Salvage
Association, London.

This clause is now the basis of all the insurance of frozen meat
where the risk starts in the freezing works. There are other
clauses where the risk starts from time of shipment, but that
merely alters paragraph 1 of the clause. In other clauses in
force the risk terminates at ship's side on ship's arrival. Para-
graph 17 is only found in insurances effected at Lloyd's ;
where the insurance is effected with a company, notice is given
to the company direct. As to how long this clause will remain
in force it is difficult to state. Broadly, the clause has really
been in force with the insurance companies for many years.
Although within the last eighteen months a few alterations
have been made by them, these alterations are embodied in
the A 1 Clause. Many of the insurances effected at Lloyd's
in the past did not contain such stringent clauses as are now
in force, and it may be that in order to obtain business
the underwriters will revert later on to the more lenient clauses,

154 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

or, alternatively, traders will more and more adopt f.p.a.
insurance (i.e., against the ordinary marine risks) plus break-
down of machinery, which is a much less expensive method
of insuring.

Renunciation of the Passive Attitude.

For the twenty-five years during which the question of
insurance has been a burning one the underwriters have
apparently considered that claims were out of proportion to
the damage. Until 1909 they made little effort to enforce
practical reforms in the working of the trade, preferring to
cover themselves by raising rates when the balance was on the
wrong side. But in the new clause of 1909 this passive policy
was departed from. They devoted themselves, with a view to
alteration, particularly to the consideration of the system
under which consignees in London made claims, and whilst, of
course, recognizing their right to call for surveys on goods
(this is done now practically in all cases, as the thirty days'
cover often runs off before goods are taken out of store, and
the meat owners must protect themselves), the underwriters
desired to cut down expenses of survey, which were often very
heavy. Their new scale of survey fees charged from June,
1909, was 10s. 6d. per 500 carcasses, 21s. per 1,000, and 10s. Qd.
for each succeeding 1,000 ; beef quarters double the above.

Some of the new rules introduced in this clause of 1909
appear somewhat one-sided, but underwriters evidently
thought the position required a firm hand. The view has often
been expressed that underwriters might have departed, with
great advantage to insurers and insured, from their laisser faire
attitude ten or fifteen years earlier by endeavouring to check
by their policy clauses any faults in the system of handling
frozen meat which affected their interests. By doing so they
would have taken their part in the building up of a correct
system and helped to place the trade generally on a sound
footing. Now, with the new rules, they have brought up the
business with a round turn. The underwriters' answer to
this is that it is the duty of the merchants to endeavour to

THE UNDKKWUITERS' KISK l.Vi

discover means whereby their goods can be carried efficiently,
and that tlu- underwriter has no control over the handling of
goods, and can only gauge his risk by losses and arrange his
pit tiiiutn accordingly. But the warranties in the A 1 Clause
show that underwriters can exercise, and have exercised, a
salutary and even arbitrary " control over the handling of the
goods."

The incidence of damage to frozen meat, where occurring,
divides itself roughly into three classes : first, that which takes
place in the freezing works or during transit to the ship ;
secondly, that which occurs afloat owing to faulty refrigeration
or defective insulation of the ship's holds ; and, thirdly, that
occurring ashore, whether it be during discharge, in transit
from ship, in the cold stores, or in the general process of trans-
port, handling, and marketing. Under the first head, losses of
late years have been greatly reduced, and in this connection
there may be mentioned a point which the shipowners make,
viz., that very frequently in commercial and official statements,
the damage occurring to parcels of meat subsequent to
discharge is attributed to the ship which carried them. The
reason why this is done is because the shipowner is an easier
party to locate than one or other of the various interests
subsequently handling the meat ; but it is hard on the ship-
owner as a rule, though there are some defective ships now,
just as there were ten years ago, and also easy-going captains
who take defective meat on board.

Three Different Views of Meat Insurance.
The Shipowner's View. — To quote the shipowner's own
words, ho says his duty is to carry meat, and that whatever
happens en route is an insurance risk, assuming that ho has done
his utmost in appointing skilled officers and engineers, and in
having his refrigerating plant and insulation tested and passed
by Lloyd's surveyors representing the underwriters. He only
charges a carrying rate, not one to include insurance. The
shipper pays the insurance premium to the underwriter to
cover the risks outside actual carriage of meat. In practice,
the latter pays the insurer the loss, in case of damage, and then

156 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

attacks the shipowner to recover the money, although the
latter never received any premium for insurance. The
negligence of the shipowner's servants is the human fallible
element which cannot be guarded against entirely. The ship-
owner inserts a negligence clause in his bill of lading, and he says
that such a proviso is in force in all other trades. Under such
a clause, he maintains, the ship should not be liable for damage
to frozen meat, subject to the conditions mentioned above
as to care to be taken by the owner. He maintains that the
time has now come for a rearrangement — the shipowner
cannot stand the strain. He says it is unfair that the under-
writer who takes the premium should put this risk on him.
The shipowner is willing to do everything reasonably possible
to ensure good carriage, but he says that there is some point at
which his responsibility should cease. He would like to have
a final certificate that the underwriter accepts the steamer as
a good insurance risk, assuming its seaworthiness, before the
meat is put on board. Thus he wishes to define the point at
which the risk of the insurer begins, he and the shipowner
taking the meat at carrying rates, and the underwriter taking
the insurance risks. The shipowner suggests that the under-
writer should pay more attention to the circumstances of the
trade and to claims relating to damage after the goods leave
the ship. He maintains that with the present insulation and
duplicate system of refrigeration there is not much chance of
damage to meat whilst on board. He proposes that two
policies should be issued, the one operating from the moment
the meat is received from the works till delivered ex ship, the
other (if necessary) for the risk of transit and store. Theoreti-
cally, this suggestion is admirable, but it is not workable, as it
involves the survey of all meat as landed, i.e., before passing
under the second cover — a practical impossibility.

The Underwriter's View. — No shipowner, says he, has been
made liable for any meat which has been damaged en route,
unless it has been shown that the refrigerating machinery
has not been in a fit condition to perform its work before the
cargo was put on board. Small claims which he has had to
meet for carcasses being dirty through his men or stevedores

TIM-. 1 \D1 It WRITERS' RISK l r,

trampling over them are rightly made. The underwriter
states that the shipowner's suggestion that the underwriter
should pay more Munition to the circumstances of the trade,
and to claims relating to damage after the goods leave the ship,
seems to be entirely outside his purview, as it is quite certain
that lOr any damage that occurs to goods after they leave his
ship the shipowner is not responsible. Speaking broadly, it
appears to the underwriter that, if the meat is shipped in good
hard-frozen condition, and the ship's machinery does its work
properly, it will be landed in good order. " Instead of that,
what do we find ? " the underwriter argues. " From vessels
arriving, especially from Australia, much meat lands here
badly misshapen, carcasses are found in some cases quite
flattened out, off colour, and otherwise seriously damaged.
Probably, this damage is due to the goods being shipped
insufficiently frozen. But if the shipowner has given a clean
bill of lading for goods that are shipped soft he has only
himself to thank if he is held to blame."

The Merchant's View. — As regards the shipowner's liability
the shipper and the underwriter have much the same stand-
point. The shipowner's case has been stated in his own
words, likewise the underwriter's ; now here is the view of a
merchant engaged in the frozen meat trade : " In the carriage
of goods by land and sea there is an underlying principle that
the carrier shall provide a conveyance reasonably fit and
proper for the work required of it. Whether the conveyance
is really fit and proper can only be judged on completion of the
voyage or journey by the condition in which the goods (signed
for as in good condition when shipped) are handed over to
the receivers. It is, therefore, manifestly unreasonable for
a shipowner in the case of frozen meat to seek to free
himself from all liability for the condition in which the meat
arrives at its destination. If steamers were surveyed by
thoroughly competent men and declared to be in a fit and
proper state to carry frozen meat, the shipowner need have
little fear of being saddled with a claim for damage, provided
reasonable care be exercised by the engineers in charge, and
even then he is amply protected by the ' negligence ' clause in

158 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

the bills of lading. It is not in the ordinary business of an
underwriter of goods to bear the shipowner's obligations as
regards seaworthiness. Such risks can be insured, and, if
the shipowner feels that these obligations are more than he
can stand by, it is for him to take steps to insure against his
own liability and not try to force the shipper into doing so."

The Appeal to the Courts.

This radical difference in point of view as between the
carrier and the insurer of frozen meat is as sharp to-day as
fifteen years ago. The shipowner, having done his best to
provide a seaworthy and " meatworthy " vessel, proceeds,
where possible, to contract himself out of liability for damage
that may occur on board by special clauses in his bill of lading.
He cannot do this now with regard to Australia, because in
December, 1904, the Commonwealth Sea Carriage of Goods Act
was assented to. Under this Act all clauses in bills of lading
whereby the ship or owners are relieved of liability for loss or
damage to goods occurring on the ship arising from faulty con-
ditions or negligence of employees are rendered null and void.
This sweeping measure settled the question for Australian
exporters, as the Act applies to ships carrying goods from
Australia to places outside Australia. The measure had its
origin probably in the celebrated Nairnshire case, in which the
shipowner contended that his bill of lading covered him against
loss arising from any defects that may have existed in the vessel
previous to the loading of the meat. This case was carried
to the House of Lords and went against the shipowner.

Frozen Meat Insurance Details.

In the early days when insuring meat was a new and un-
popular risk (it was from the first, and is now, unpopular on
account of the numerous losses made) the premiums charged
were very high ; 805., 865., and 90s. per cent, were not unknown
in the New Zealand trade. Then premiums were lowered to
80s. and 70s. per cent., at which figure they stood for a long
time. About ten years ago rates were lowered to 65s. and 60s.

I III I \l)l \(\\ KIT! !{-' RISK

Up to that period the business had been done by companies,
both in London and New Zealand; when Lloyd's took up
insuring frozen meat at the end of the nineties, premiums fell.
From then onwards rates have gradually fallen, with 40*.
as a minimum for mutton. Premium rates have stiffened
for some time past owing to underwriters having suffered
loss through the secondary risk, the loss of vessels. There is
now little elasticity in rates, and but slight differentiating
between firms, ships, freezing works, etc. A great deal of meat
insurance is done in New Zealand by the local insurance
companies, but Lloyd's have the greater part of the Australian
business as well as most of the South American connection.
The large works in Argentina have floating policies both with
Lloyd's and the companies. The Thames and Mersey, Com-
mercial Union, Indemnity Marine, Ocean Marine, and other
British and foreign offices handle a great amount of frozen
meat insurance.

Consignees of meat often elect to insure f.p.a., but the
more general plan — almost invariably so in the c.i.f. trade-
is to have the ordinary " all risks " policy. This policy has
the special frozen meat clause (already set forth in this chapter)
attached to it ; this does not cover bone-taint. Usually, how-
ever, insurance starts at the freezing works, including freezing
risks, all sea risks, and continues until 30 or 60 days after the
meat is stored. In the last conference clause bone-taint and
improper dressing are specially excluded. Lloyd's A 1 Clause,
" Freezing works, voyage, and sixty days," gives a list of
stores at English ports where the meat can be discharged ;
90 per cent, of Australasian frozen meat is carried under this
clause. The premium for this risk has been lately about 45a.
per cent, on approved covers. F.p.a. cover, including break-
down of machinery, is issued at about 25s. per cent. ; such a
policy would be for the voyage only, the shipper giving a
warranty that the meat was in sound condition when put
aboard. A risk adopted by one of the leading New Zealand
freezing companies is to cover 75 per cent, only of the goods
against all risks, for which they pay about 40*. per cent.
They reinsure the 25 per cent, balance f.p.a.. including

160 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

breakdown of machinery, at 15s. per cent. An increasing vogue
in the New Zealand meat export trade is to cover total loss of
vessel only, which can be done for about 7s. Qd. per cent.

The mutual clubs formed amongst shipowners for the pooling
of losses have included the frozen meat risk. These clubs have,
however, considered the suggestion that losses falling upon the
owners resulting from frozen meat carriage should be excluded,
because of the heavy drafts upon them in connection with law
cases — these cases were fought by the clubs.

The suggestion has been put forward by merchants and
shippers in Australasia and England that underwriters should
charge differential rates for insuring frozen meat according to
the records of individual vessels in the " refrigerated fleet " for
conveying meat well or imperfectly. But such a proposal is
not workable, some merchants argue, and any attempt, they
say, to carry it out would introduce all sorts of complexities
into the business. But it is already done every day in
connection with ordinary cargo insured f.p.a., and does
come into operation to that extent in "all risks " cover.
As it is, frozen meat rates vary on the different shipping lines.

The Surveyor's Duties.

The needs of the frozen meat trade have called into
existence the surveyor, who is required to possess special
experience in the meat business and knowledge of refrigeration
and cold storage. The surveyor makes his appearance on the
scene when the consignee of a parcel of meat calls for a survey
on it. This survey takes place in the presence of two surveyors,
acting respectively for the importer and the underwriter.
They go to the store and inspect a percentage of the meat,
usually 10 per cent., sometimes more. Occasionally small parcels
are found without blemish, but in a large consignment it is
difficult to escape some cases of injury, and an allowance is made,
at so much per Ib. on so much per cent, of the whole, according
to the results of the investigation of the percentage examined.
The surveyors aim at doing no more than to compensate the
owner for the difference between the selling value of his damaged

HIE UNDERWRITERS' RISK 161

meat and its Bound value. This is the practice with regard to
the great bulk of Australasian meat landed in London. In the
oases of some large importers handling their own goods, the
underwriters accept their claims made upon all the rejected
carcasses of any shipment without question ; such claims are
baaed on the condition of the meat and the market prices of
the day.

Classes of Damage.

The most serious form of damage to frozen meat in transit
for which claims are made on the underwriter is that which
arises from the ordinary sea perils, such as vessels stranding,
collisions, etc. When such disasters happen, they involve heavy
claims, especially if sea water gets into the meat holds : meat
which has suffered in this way makes a " bad salvage." Rarely
nowadays have claims to be made on account of breakdown
of machinery, although claims were not uncommon in the
early days of frozen meat transit. All vessels now engaged
in carrying frozen and chilled meat have their refrigerating
machinery in duplicate. The risk, therefore, from breakdown
is very slight.

The classes of minor damage for which the underwriters have
to pay under the circumstances just set forth are as follow :
(1) "off colour"; (2) misshapen; (3) stained, torn, and
broken carcasses, brine-stained carcasses, bone taint (as a
rule this damage is not included), dirty carcasses, mould. Bone
taint is practically confined to beef ; at one time it affected
mutton, too. It is found in beef from Australia, New Zealand,
and Argentina. Nos. 1 and 2 are caused by the carcasses
getting soft at some stage after leaving the freezing works ;
dirty carcasses come from bad stevedore work in loading and
discharging ; torn and broken carcasses are the result of mis-
handling ; and brine-stained meat (which is condemned by the
sanitary authorities) results when leaking pipes drip on to
the carcass. Though the underwriters have taken no action to
prevent the use of unduly low temperatures in the holds of
meat-carrying ships, their surveyors hold strong views on the

F.M. M

subject. From 15° to 17° F. is considered by them to be the
ideal temperature on land or sea for holding meat in a frozen
state. An exceedingly dry atmosphere accompanies tempera-
tures at or approaching zero F., at which meat has been carried
sometimes, and this, surveyors say, draws moisture from the
meat, rendering it " off colour " and dull, besides causing need-
less loss in weight. Many importers believe that more damage
of this kind is done by frequent and considerable variations of
freezing temperature than by a very low temperature kept
fairly constant.

A special risk attending the transit of chilled beef may be
glanced at. This is where the rods by which the beef quarters
are suspended break, through the straining of the vessel or
from some other cause. The meat is, of course, injured owing
to its falling in a heap on the floor. It is a moot point, in
considering underwriters' liability, whether the said rods can
be considered part of the refrigerating machinery of a vessel,
and, therefore, what party has to bear the loss caused by such
accidents. This chapter may be concluded by drawing atten-
tion to the risk of damage occurring through barges conveying
frozen meat to the up-town stores colliding with other craft.

CHAPTER XI

COLD STORAGE

ONE of the most important branches of the frozen produce
trade is that connected with the cold store or refrigerating
warehouse, which forms one of the main and strongest links in
the chain of industries uniting the pastures of the producing
countries with the consumer's table, the ultimate destination of
the food produce. The chilling or freezing store which forms
an adjunct of the freezing works at the point of production is
not the subject of this chapter, but rather the storage depot at
the receiving and marketing end, wherein the frozen meat is
deposited for a longer or shorter time after the vessels have
discharged their burden at the ocean docks. The storekeeper
owes his business entirely to the growth of this overseas trans-
port, the beginning of which was seen in the memorable pioneer
voyage of the Strathleven. The cold storekeeper is a product
of the industry. As a rule, the shipowner gives up only part
of his space to the carriage of frozen produce, but frozen meat,
butter, fruit, etc., are the storekeeper's all in all. The
business he does in the preservation of hops, furs, etc., though a
considerable one if reckoned separately, shrinks to small pro
portions if compared with his " legitimate " trade, that of the
storage of food produce. The pioneers of the frozen meat
trade and their representatives in London and Liverpool had
no conception of the gigantic and highly organized institution
which the modern cold store was to become. In their tentative
way they shipped forward their meat for marketing in London,
holding very modest views as to the future, and having no
fixed ideas as to the necessity of an intermediate stage between
ship and mart. The pioneers who survive and can carry their
in in * Is back clearly to 1880 must marvel when they contemplate
present day figures of the cold storage industry in the United

M 2

164 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

Kingdom. In London alone the public cold stores have a
total capacity of 2| million carcasses, or, roughly, about a
quarter of the cubic space occupied by a whole year's imports
of frozen meat into the metropolis.

The first experiment in cold storage at the London Docks was
an installation made for the American trade (which began in
1874). It was a store in which there was a guttering round the
top to hold ice. The first mention of public cold stores in
London occurred in a paragraph in the City Press of June 19,
1880. Therein it was reported that at a Corporation meeting
it was agreed to let to Mr. Stevenson Nos. 7 to 12, Market
Buildings, Charterhouse Street, for a " refrigerated store " for
twenty-one years from Midsummer, 1880, at £1,000 a year.
A condition of the tenancy was that the market toll on meat
entering Smithfield was to be paid. A Mr. Judd is reported to
have opposed the lease, arguing that it was against public
morals to do anything which would prevent the getting rid of
perishable meat as quickly as possible. " The Court should,
therefore, be careful not to start or encourage a new industry
for preserving that in which decay has taken place." Probably
this movement for a store — which came to naught, at least
for the time — was engineered by the market salesmen who were
interested in the success of the Strathleven venture and by the
interests in the City concerned in the enterprise.

The Dock Stores.

No architectural skill was lavished on the first cold store in
London, that at A Jetty, Victoria Dock, which was then the pro-
perty of the London and St. Katharine Docks Co. (later amal-
gamated with the East and West India Docks Co. as the London
and India Docks Co.). The company was pressed in 1881 by its
Australian friends to receive and store frozen meat, and in the
following year the first cold store opened in London was work-
ing. It was considered that an underground vault was most
suitable for holding the temperature, and such an apartment was
fitted up. A small machine was supplied by Messrs. J. and E.

COLD STORAGE

Hall, and the capacity of this store was only equal to 600 sheep.
It was, however, soon considerably increased.

A very interesting description of the first provision of cold
storage accommodation by the London and St. Katharine
Docks Co. was given by Colonel B. H. Martindale, C.B., R.E.,
general manager of that company, in the course of the
discussion of a paper " On Refrigerating and Ice-making
Machinery and Appliances," read by Mr. T. B. Lightfoot
before the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1886. This
paper, by the way, is one of the only two papers on
refrigeration ever read before that Institution, both being
contributed by Mr. Lightfoot. Colonel Martindale on that
occasion said he had been connected for the past five years

"with the practical working of arrangements for preserving refrigerated meat
from the Colonies on perhaps the largest scale that had ever been carried out in
England. In 1881 the dock company were pressed by some of their Australian
friends to make arrangements for receiving frozen meat and storing and distributing
it. They began necessarily on a very small scale. Happening to have under one of
their warehouses a large vault about 600 feet long divided longitudinally into four
arches, each 16 feet wide, they made use of part of it for their storage. They began
with a small engine obtained from Messrs. Hall, of Dartford, delivering 10,000 cubic
feet of cold air per hour ; and that engine did good work until 1884, when it was
removed to make room for a larger one. They gradually increased the number of
their cold storage chambers, until they had now got 56 chambers in two vaults.
The smallest chamber bad a cubic content of 2,273 feet, and the largest of 9,280 feet,
the total content of the 56 chambers being something over 183,000 cubic feet. It
was found that the carcasses averaged in weight 56, 60, and 72 Ibs., and if the cham-
bers could be completely filled they would hold about 59,000 sheep of the first
weight, 56,000 of the second, and 44,000 of the third. But in practice a space had
to be left for gangways, and for separating different marks, especially in consign-
ments from New Zealand ; and a proportionate deduction had, therefore, to be made
from what could otherwise be stored. Still the chambers could always store about
44,000 sheep, taking the shipments as they chanced to arrive. The construction of
the chambers had varied a little in detail. The last chambers that had been built
had been constructed according to the recommendation of Mr. Haslam, of Derby.
On the original concrete floor of the vault there was placed a longitudinal layer of
1 J-inch rough boards, on which were laid transverse bearers, 4 J inches deep by 3 inches
wide and 21 inches apart. On these bearers was laid a 2}-inch batten floor, grooved
and tongucd. The sides and roof were constructed with 5J by 3-inch uprights, fixed
on the floor bearers. On these uprights there was an outer skin of 2-inch boards,
and an inner skin formed by two thicknesses of 1 J-inch boards, between which was
a thickness of specially prepared brown paper. The 6J-inch space between the inner
and outer skins of the sides and roof and the 4 J-inch space between the floor and
rough boards were filled with carefully dried wood-charcoal. All the boards were
finished to a uniform thickness and were grooved and tonguod. Cold air was con-
veyed by wooden trunks from the refrigerating machines into the chambers, entering

166 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

them at one end close to the roof, and being drawn off at the other end, also close
to the roof, by return air trunks leading back to the refrigerating machines. From
the quantity of snow made by the engines, the air trunks had to be cleared out
erery twenty-four hours, and the engine snow-boxes about every four hours."

Subsequent to the establishment of the stores mentioned,
the East and West India Docks Co. provided stores upon two
floating hulks, the Seawitch and the Robert Morrison ; these
craft together stored 15,000 sheep, and they were moved from
dock to dock as required, one of them also making a trip with
a cargo of meat from London to a French port. These floating
stores were folio wed by stores situated on land in the South West
India Dock, with a capacity of 14,000 sheep, and it is said the
company then felt that all the requirements of the trade
had been met. Docks policy, however, has expanded with the
trade, and the development of the docks stores has kept pace
with its growth ; the 500 carcasses capacity of 1882 have become
822,000 in 1911, including the store at Smithfield. The dock
companies and their clients always emphasized the advantage
of storing frozen meat at the point of discharge, and for a long
time after the start of the trade held a large part of the storing
business. The development of cold storage as a public service
was largely due to the companies, and their schedules of
charges and regulations form the basis of business to this day
to a great extent. The dock stores were taken over by the Port
of London Authority in 1909.

The Smithfield Market Store.

About 1883 a London cold storage company was promoted
and duly registered, the names of Messrs. James Anning,
E. Montague Nelson, Alfred Seale Haslam, Ebenezer Cayford,
and Alfred Towers being associated with the venture. It was
styled the Dead Meat Storage Co., Ltd., and had a capital of
£100,000. Messrs. Cayford and Towers had been granted a
lease of the vaults under the Poultry Market, and these it was
proposed to turn into a cold store equipped with Haslam's cold
air machinery. The Dead Meat Storage Co., however, did not
proceed to operations, and was dissolved by notice in the
London Gazette in 1890.

<<>M) STORAGE 167

Tho concession, however, was taken up by the Central
Markets Cold Air Stores, Ltd., a company formed in 1884
with a nominal capital of £30,000. Among the subscribers
were Messrs. E. 8. Moulder, E. Cayford, Thomas L. Devitt,
Joseph Moore, C. E. Green, John Bell, and Alfred Towers
(managing director). Mr. E. Penman was also associated with
Mr. Towers in the management of the store. The secretary
was Mr. H. E. Kaye, who retired in 1890 and is now the
manager of the Blackfriars Cold Storage Co., Ltd. The appear-
ance of the names of so many important shipowners on the
subscribers' list of this cold storage company is interesting as
marking early recognition by the Australian shipowning
interest of the commercial importance of the coming trade.
The company was wound up in 1901. This store, that is, in
the vaults under the poultry section of Smithfield, was not
a success, its failure, however, being by no means due to
the Haslam refrigerating machinery installed, which worked
well, but to defective insulation. Adapting the peculiar
conditions of these underground spaces to refrigerating work was
probably too grave a problem for the refrigerating engineering
knowledge available twenty years ago.

In 1898 a prominent group of market tenants subscribed the
necessary capital, and the Smithfield Market Cold Storage Co.
was formed to take over this property. The title of this
company was in the following year altered to the London
Central Markets Cold Storage Co., Ltd., and its premises at that
time comprised the original section under the Poultry Market
and the imposing building erected in King Street, adjacent to
the market buildings. A few years later this company acquired
a portion of the Midland Railway Co.'s depot at Poplar, and
completed the building as a cold store with an entirely new
refrigerating installation, thus adding to the importance of the
company in its relation to the service for the Central Markets
by having a dock and receiving depot upon the river entirely
at its command. From this depot at Poplar specially con-
structed insulated motor vans reach the market stores in one
hour. The new building in Charterhouse Street facing the
poultry section of the markets was acquired in 1905. These

168 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

efficiently equipped stores together form an important part
of the London cold storage system, more particularly in
relation to the business of the London Central Markets, as
they are actually a part of the market structure. The same
company has recently acquired depots at Liverpool (two),
Nottingham, and Chesterfield. Its stores have a capacity of
about 600,000 carcasses. Mr. J. H. Geddes was the leading
spirit in the organization of these stores, and he remained
managing director of the company till his death in 1908,
Mr. William Hawkins succeeding him in that position.

Nelson Brothers' Stores and Depot.

Messrs. Nelson Brothers, who had been using the dock stores
in London for their importations of frozen meat up to 1885, in
that year opened what might be called the third of the three
pioneer cold stores, in the arches under Cannon Street Railway
Station, and the effect of this was to lower charges for storage
of meat. The Tyser Line from New Zealand to London started
its refrigerated traffic two years later, and the competition
set up reduced freight charges. Little experience in cold
store construction was available in those days, and the efforts
of architects and builders in this connection were accordingly
crude. The following description of Nelson Brothers' early
cold store is interesting. Under Cannon Street Station there
was a central arch extending from Thames Street to the river,
and from it other arches ran at right angles. From the central
arch as a corridor the other arches were closed in and insulated.
The door in the centre of each arch had a trapdoor through
which carcasses were passed into the chamber, and through
which they were delivered, the main door hardly ever being
opened. At the river end of the central arch was a landing
platform, alongside which barges from the docks were unloaded ;
the carcasses were passed up by hand into trucks and run along
a tram line to the chambers. At the Thames Street end were
the loading platform, scales, and offices. Trucks filled at the
chambers were run up to the weighbridges and loaded into
market and railway vans for the country. (This store was in
1898 sold to the Union^Cold Storage Co. and re-modelled.)

COLD STORAC.l Hi'.)

As Messrs. Nelson Brothers found the Thames Street store
inadequate for their expanding business — in one year they had
handled about one and a quarter million carcasses and 50,000
quarters of beef — the firm opened additional premises, a splendid
c. .1. 1 store in Commercial Road, Lambeth, in 1892. Sir Frederick
Bramwell and Mr. H. Graham Harris were the architects, and
the definite plan on which these stores were constructed was
that formed by Sir Montague Nelson, whose proposition was
that the store should be a " gigantic tank " : everything was
to go in at the top and go out from the top. This idea was
rigidly adhered to. The " tank " was divided into floors, but
though it was intended that these floors should extend from
side to side without divisions, the building regulations of
London forbade this, and a dividing wall had to be built down
the centre, cross partitions at intervals dividing each floor into
several bays with fireproof doors. Even the upper floor,
intended only for receiving and delivering goods, had to be
similarly divided, even to the iron doors. The store, exclusive
of the cost of the freehold, cost £150,000.

This store was opened for business on March 17, 1892, and
was, and is, one of the biggest and best-equipped cold store
warehouses in the world, with a capacity of 250,000 carcasses,
equal to 750,000 cubic feet. The opening of the establishment
was one of the features of progress in the 1890 — 1900 period,
a time of such great expansion in the frozen meat trade. A
feature of this riverside store is the system of taking delivery
from the barges. The elevator is an endless chain running up
by the side of the building and working between the upper floor
of the store and the barges down in the bay. The carcasses
are placed in the cradles of this elevator, which is lowered so
that its under end is in the barge ; they are then carried by
hydraulic power to the floor and dropped on to the sorting
table. When the elevator deposits its frozen carcasses there,
they are placed in little iron trucks, all of equal weight;
the trucks are lowered to the chambers and the meat packed
away. This method is expeditious and cheap, and saves
handling the meat. The standing instruction to the men at
Nelson's Wharf is to " handle the carcasses as if they are eggs " ;

this care, combined with as little handling as possible, saves
damage and consequent insurance claims. These stores passed
to the Colonial Consignment and Distributing Company in
1895.

The store at Nelson's Wharf was designed to facilitate the
company's country business, and the spacious floors are used
for assembling, packing, and despatching the frozen meats
distributed throughout the Provinces. Various labour-saving
appliances are used, notably cutting machines (Nelson-Dicks
patents), which separate the parts of a sheep swiftly and evenly,
ready for packing, where joints are required. With regard to
the Smithfield part of the company's business, the meat is
conveyed by van to the Central Markets during the night.
When required for Smithfield the carcasses are repacked
on the trucks, raised to the delivery floor, passed over a weigh-
bridge, then on to a lift, and lowered to the loading platform
and carried into the vans. Two De la Vergne ammonia com-
pression refrigerating machines and one Haslam cold air
machine are installed, the Haslam machine, the older plant,
being used only occasionally. There are nineteen hydraulic
lifts and hoists and ten miles of refrigerating pipes in the
buildings. There are five storage floors, each divided into
three sections, in the arrangement of which the " bay " system
is used. An idea of the working facilities may be gathered
from the fact that a cargo of 50,000 carcasses of meat has been
received and housed in less than four days. To conclude
reference to the features of the premises, it may be added that
recently some disused cellars were turned into a miniature rifle
range, which is very popular with the staff.

The Union Cold Storage Company's Stores.

The group of cold stores owned by the Union Cold Storage
Co., Ltd., is world-wide in its ramifications. There are stores
at London, Liverpool, Manchester, Hull, Glasgow, as far as the
United Kingdom is concerned, and in connection with the
Russian-Siberian butter export business, the Union Co. has
opened large cold stores at St. Petersburg, Riga, Kosloff, and

(OLD STORAGE 171

. The combined capacities of the Union Co. 'scold store*
run into millions of carcasses, and, according to the company's
statement, would comfortably hold at any time more than a
year's total shipments of mutton from New Zealand. Indeed
the Union cold stores grapple with a storing business which is
by far the largest of anything of this nature in the world — a
notable instance of the pre-eminence of British enterprise.
Some thousands of tons of ice per week are also manufactured
by this company.

There are now about 6,000 shareholders in the Union Cold
Storage Co., Ltd., and the net earnings work out at the rate
of £2,000 per annum for every 100,000 carcasses storage
capacity (say 350,000 cubic feet) of the undertaking, before
taking into account management, head office expenses, and
depreciation. The Union cold stores do such a miscellaneous
business that all the well-known systems of refrigeration are
employed and the machinery of most of the principal makers
is used. The capacity of the refrigerating machinery
installed at the company's various stores exceeds a total
refrigerating power of 3,000 tons per day of twenty-four
hours. The company began operations in 1893 in Liverpool ;
in 1896 their first London store was started, at Blackfriars,
and by rapid strides, as the result of the closest study of
all the problems connected with the new industry, the
Union cold stores grew to their present far-reaching
establishment.

Of late years extension of the Union Co.'s enterprise has for
the most part been abroad, except in the direction of taking
over existing cold stores in England, which had been erected
by public authorities and others. Amongst these were, about
1898, the old cold stores of the Colonial Consignment and
Distributing Co., under Cannon Street Station, London, E.G.,
and later the cold stores of the North Eastern Railway Co. at
Hull and the cold stores of the Scottish Cold Storage and Ice
Co., Ltd., at Glasgow. During 1910 the Union Co. acquired
the large cold stores and ice factory on the Albert Dock
belonging to the Liverpool Riverside Cold Storage Co., Ltd. ;
this had been run by a group of local merchants, who after

172 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

more than ten years had grown weary of contributing to its
running expenses without receiving dividends.

Other Cold Stores : London and Country.

To the above account of the growth of public cold storage
in London there should, to make complete the reference to
London cold stores, be added mention of the large stores
owned by the several meat importing companies, e.g., Borth-
wick's, Eastman's, James Nelson and Sons, the River Plate Fresh
Meat Co., and Sansinena's. But this chapter has in detail
treated alone of cold storage erected for the use of the public.

It is evident that competition in the public cold store business
is running fiercely nowadays, and that in the big centres of
population where this competition exists, only those cold
storage enterprises which are erected, equipped, and managed
on the most modern lines and in the most businesslike way can
be successful commercially.

The meat trade has been mainly responsible for the growth
of public cold storage in the various towns throughout the
Kingdom, though in most cases the public store owner is open
to receive other produce than meat. There are now over
a hundred towns provided with public cold storage, and about
one hundred and seventy public cold stores in these centres,
establishments of a capacity from one or two thousand up to two
million cubic feet, which is the total capacity of the stores at
Southampton of the International Cold Storage and Ice Co.,
Ltd., the biggest cold store in Europe. Although in the
majority of cases the stores are controlled by proprietors or
companies trading in this business alone, a considerable number
of the stores are owned by individual traders or trading
companies carrying on business as merchants and making the
provision of refrigerated accommodation for others an auxiliary
to their business. Thirteen towns have municipal cold storage.

CHAPTER XII
THE STOREKEEPERS' DUTIES

IT will have been seen from the previous chapter that the
cold storage industry which has been built upon the modern
development of the refrigerated produce trade is a great and
complex undertaking. Some explanation of the various
features of its operative customs will be of service in the present
chapter, as on the working of the cold store depends to a large
extent the success of the frozen meat industry.

Periods of Storage.

With regard to the cold stores at the ports of debarkation, for
it is with those establishments that this chapter deals, space is
usually arranged for at the stores before the arrival of the vessel,
and in London the storage charge on frozen meat begins from
the time the steamer breaks bulk with her meat cargo. The
object of icvery consignee is to take delivery of his meat within
the first month. Speaking roughly, perhaps 75 per cent, of
the frozen meat in the London cold stores is marketed within
the month. At any rate, it changes hands within that period,
but this question is solved according to the state of the market ;
at times meat is held as long as six months, and even more, and
nine months' storage is not unknown. Though frozen meat
loses its bloom and also weight through long storage, it may be
marketed in fairly sound condition even after such lengthened
storage. There was a case fifteen years ago of 10,000 Canter-
bury lambs being " bottled up " for six months — as a market
speculation. The carcasses were locked up in a chamber, the
doors of which were not opened. The meat stood the ordeal
well, and a profitable deal was made. In April, 1909, a consign-
ment of New Zealand sheep, 23,000, was put into one of the
London stores in one lot ; the carcasses were taken out in the

174 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

following September in first-rate condition. Such procedure,
however, is risky, the ordinary experience being that six
months' freezing makes frozen carcasses bleach. The general
question as to how long frozen meats may be kept in cold
store, with regard to loss of quality and appearance, and the
structural and other changes which take place, is one for
scientific men and trade experts. Experiments, mainly in
poultry, have been made hi England, Australasia, and America ;
essays and articles without number have been penned, yet
there is still to seek a statement sufficiently clear for the non-
scientific mind to grasp and explicit enough to use as a guide
for business men.

Reaching the Store.

Much, of course, depends upon the conditions attending the
actual transit of meat to the cold stores. In the case of up-
town stores, that is, the refrigerating warehouses other than
those connected with the docks, transit is made by insulated
lighters to the stores situated on the riverside, and by insulated
lighters and vans to those situated inland. The principal
dock stores of London are situated in the Victoria and Albert
Docks, and have working capacities equivalent to 552,000
sheep. So far as concerns the stores in the Victoria and Albert
Docks, some of the meat is conveyed thither by insulated
lighters from the Tilbury Docks, but the bulk is received from
steamers discharged in the docks. The principal railways
run alongside these stores, and meat is delivered direct to
railway wagons for distribution in the provinces. Delivery
is also made at night for the market, but as these stores are
situated at a considerable distance from Smithfield, orders
must be given some hours beforehand, so as to allow time for
conveyance and delivery into the market. The inconvenience
experienced in these arrangements led to the construction of the
West Smithfield stores belonging to the Port Authority, which
have a capacity of 95,000 carcasses (they are to be supplemented
by another store in the vicinity of a capacity of 84,000 car-
casses), and, being adjacent to the market, permit of delivery

I ME STOREKEEPERS' DUTIES 176

being obtained at call. Conveyance to the West Smithfield
stores is usually made direct from steamers by insulated vans.
The owners of the meat decide on the arrival of the steamers
the stores into which they require their shipments placed, and,
of course, they are guided to some extent by the probable dis-
posal of the meat. There are also stores in the West India and
Surrey Commercial Docks.

The large white insulated vans that convey the frozen meat
to Smithfield's portals hold about 120 sheep ; the ordinary
river barges take from 1,000 to 1,200 sheep, but some will take
considerably more. Meat is not usually weighed on delivery
to the store, but when it is sent out, and there is occasionally
an intermediate " weighing over " for the convenience of the
customer. On meat being received at the store, the first thing
to do is to stow it according to marks, readily accessible for
delivery.

Marks.

About sixteen years ago the " multiplicity of marks "
trouble became acute ; the storekeeper was asked to keep
separate the various small lots of carcasses represented by the
sub-marks — 50 sheep, five sheep, and so on. The separation of
these lots involved an enormous waste of storage space, and, to
meet the difficulty, a line was drawn at 100 carcasses, or 400
pieces of mutton or lamb, such as haunches, legs, and shoulders,
as a minimum. Any parcel under 100 carcasses or 400 pieces
was, and is now, charged one-third additional. Say, for example,
the charges under the (old) management rate of 20s. tod. a ton for
twenty-eight days for some rent on 50 sheep amount at the
usual rates to £2 6s. The parcel would be charged one-third
extra, or £3, and so on, and the same practice for the same reason
has recently been extended to beef, the line being drawn at a
pile of 30 quarters.

If several sub-marks belong to one consignee, he may have
them piled together, in order to avoid the one-third extra
charge, but the marks would be mixed, and would be delivered
as they " rose from the pile."

Frozen beef is piled in store similarly to mutton and lamb.
Chilled beef, which is hung on hooks, is sent to the cold stores

176 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

to a far less extent than frozen beef, but with the greatly
increased importation of chilled beef from South America
the need for chilled, as opposed to frozen, storage has increased.
The chilled beef steamers are used as stores until the
balances of the shipments have to be cleared, according to the
state of the market. There are chambers for chilled beef at
the Victoria Dock stores, which have recently been increased
from a capacity of 1,000 to about 4,000 quarters.

Cold Storage Rates.

Like all the other charges in the frozen meat cycle, the cold
store rates have fallen considerably from the original fd. per Ib.
per 28 days hi the very early days of cold storage. Accord-
ing to a schedule issued by the docks store in November, 1883,
the charges were as follow : —

Receiving from ship, conveying to stores, rent for one week
and delivery was

Rent per week or part of
a week after one week.

When a parcel consisted of less than 1,000 carcasses : —
For the first 400 or less
On all between 400 and 1,000

When a parcel consisted of 1,000 carcasses or more : —
For the first 1,000
On all between 1,000 and 2,000
On all in excess of 2,000

Per Ib.
&<*•

Per Ib.

£

&<*•

^d. \ For any portion of
fad. / the consignment.

Several conditions as to minimum charges were set out. In
July, 1884, the docks store rate was fixed at Sd. per carcass for
storage for forty-eight hours from breaking bulk ; " when
several marks are imported in the same ship," 9d. ; rent after
forty-eight hours, l|d. per cwt. per day. Weighing, " if
required," was charged for at |rf. per carcass. In March, 1891,
the " management rate," $d. per Ib. (20s. 9d. per ton), came
into force, and practically no change, except the application
of the one- third additional charge, as already explained,
has taken place in twenty years.1 After twenty-eight days'
storage the rent is now fd. per cwt. per day, but with the
proviso that the rent to be charged never exceeds ^d. per Ib.

1 This chapter was written before the labour troubles, and the rise in wages
which followed in 1911 caused an increase in the 20s. 9d. management rate. It is
possible that in 1912 the question of cold storage charges at the docks will be revised.

THE STOREKEEPERS' DUTIES 177

for any period of twenty-eight days on the gross weight in
store on the first day of such period. This charge prevails at
all tho London public cold stores. The warehouse keeper is
hi MI i id to cover himself by making a substantial charge for the
first month, even though the meat may only stay in store for a
day, for he has to pay conveying from ship to store and various
other items. The competition which brought about that reduc-
tion in 1891 in the London cold storage rates (we have seen the
same force at work in the freezing and shipping charges) seems to
have ceased — at least so far as the occurrence of further reduc-
tions is concerned — with the establishment of the existing
" management rate." Up to 1898 demand for cold storage was
greater than the supply, but in that year cold storage space got
ahead of requirements. A " combine," or working arrange-
ment of some sort, was arranged between the London stores in
1899, and under this the proprietors have, except for a short
period in 1906, been able to prevent the $d. per Ib. being reduced,
and in this respect all the cold stores are worked on the same
lines. There was a breakdown of the London " combine " at
the beginning of 1906, and until a fresh arrangement was made,
after three months of civil war, there was a period of severe rate
cutting ; goods were accepted at as low as 10s. a ton. It is
obvious that, from a proprietor's point of view, the public cold
stores of London lend themselves to combined management to
prevent ruinous cutting of rates.

Cold Store Dividends.

The cold storage industry is one of many ups and downs, a
feast or famine business. In some seasons the stores are used
mainly as depositories for frozen meat for a day or two or a
week or two before marketing ; in others, great quantities of
meat are " bottled up " for months, and the stores become
congested. About the beginning of the nineties cold storage
was a paying business. During the previous decade the frozen
meat trade developed heavily in supplies, with frequent
seasons when the market was unable to absorb shipments as
they came along. On the whole, however, only modest divi-
dends have been earned in the cold storage business. The

F.M. u

178 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

average ordinary dividend for 1909 of twenty of the principal
cold storage companies in the United Kingdom was slightly
over 5 per cent., and would have been appreciably lower than
this, did the calculation not include three particularly successful
concerns whose ordinary dividend averaged 15 per cent. The
business of ice manufacture was also included in most of the
companies whose dividends formed the basis of this calcula-
tion. The largest stores of all, those of the Port Authority of
London, are not, however, included, because no separate
returns of this department of its undertaking are issued by
the Authority.

In 1888 the cold storage space available in London and Liver-
pool was only equal to the accommodation of 400,000 carcasses,
and in 1894 London's cold stores could only hold 500,000.
From that date cold store construction went ahead rapidly.
In 1895 the capacity of the cold stores of London was equal to
1,000,000 carcasses, in 1900 to 1,648,000 carcasses, in 1905 to
2,631,500 carcasses, in 1911 to 2,840,000 carcasses. Readers
consulting Appendix V will observe that the available storage
space at the chief ports of Great Britain, other than London,
is equal to accommodating 5,124,500 carcasses. For the last
ten years or so storage space has been readily obtainable in
London, with the exception of 1909, a year of low values and
heavy storage, when for some weeks the stores were congested ;
for four or five days in August they were absolutely full.

The chief problem which a cold store proprietor has to solve
is how to keep his store as full of produce as possible. (In these
remarks only the frozen meat department of the business is dealt
with, but, of course, there are many other kinds of perishable
merchandise, stored at varying temperatures.) One reason
why the cold storage proprietor likes to have his chambers
full of frozen produce is because of the assistance rendered by
the goods in keeping down temperatures ; a half-full store
requires more engine power than does a full one.

Responsibilities and Risks.

One might have expected, with the advance of cold storage to
a position of considerable importance among the mercantile

THK SKWEKEEPERS' DUTIES 179

industries of the United Kingdom, especially in London,
tint some legislation would have accompanied the move-
ment. A good many nice questions must arise, but
apparently all matters causing friction between cold store
customer and warehouse keeper are settled in accordance with
the customs of the trade that have gradually encrusted round
t In- industry. It is assumed that cold stores come in a general
way under the Warehouseman's Acts, and legal proceedings
concerning the responsibilities of proprietors would be entered
under common law. The custom of "general lien," whereby, in
the event of non-payment of cold storage charges, a cold store
owner has legal claim on goods held (i.e., all goods held by the
same customer, and not merely on the specific goods in
respect of which charges are due), was formally established
in the cold storage industry in 1902 by the Cold Storage and
Ice Association, this society taking the necessary steps by
public resolution and advertisement.

What are the responsibilities to his client of the cold store
proprietor ? They may possibly be summed up as follow.
His stores are inspected by the underwriter's surveyors,
and, if passed, are certificated as " approved." All the
resources of modern science are drawn upon in the construction
of the buildings and the installations of plant and appliances,
and a skilled and efficient staff is provided to work the business.
The meat while in course of being put into store is externally
inspected, while here and there a shirt is cut for making an
internal inspection, and any imperfections seen are recorded
and the owners informed of them in the " landing account,"
or earlier if necessary. The cold store does not hold itself
responsible for any loss of condition which may take place in
meat warehoused. The proprietor provides cold air — at about
18° F. in the case of frozen meat — and he keeps temperature
logs day and night. If he delivers the goods for which he has
L'ivm a clean receipt, he says that by taking reasonable care
he has done all that can be expected of him. Any damage
to meat in store is the merchant's or his underwriter's, not
the warehouse keeper's, concern. Of course, if too high
temperatures were proved to be due to neglect, that would

N 2

180 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

be a different matter, but the ordinary gradual depreciation
in the condition of meat accompanying storage cannot be
insured against after sixty days.

Meat in store is covered by the marine policy current for
thirty days, occasionally for sixty, and before this runs out the
underwriter's surveyor has inspected the meat, and any allow-
ances for damage have been agreed upon. The only other
store risks against which the owner of the meat can then insure
are " fire " and " breakdown of machinery." The exact
situation is stated in the following paragraph from the docks
cold store tariff : " The Port Authority will not hold themselves
responsible for the condition of the meat stored with them,
nor for any loss which may be sustained through failure of
machinery or otherwise. But they will render all assistance
in their power in the investigation of any question which may
be raised, provided that the meat is not removed from the
stores, and the investigation takes place on the same day as
that on which the question is raised, or at the latest on the
following working day."

To continue this part of the subject in some detail, it may
be useful to give the clauses printed on the receipt form of one
of the London cold store companies : —

1. — The Company will use every endeavour to keep the goods in sound condition,
but will not be responsible for loss or damage to goods stored, through maintaining
too high or too low a temperature in the stores, failure of machinery or plant, fire,
vermin, or any other cause whatsoever other than theft. In case of fire, storage is
payable to date.

2. — Goods are only received subject to a general lien for all charges accrued and
accruing against the storer, and if not removed after seven days' notice has been
given to the storer, or sent by post to his last known address, may be sold to defray
the lien and all expenses incurred.

3. — Transfers are allowed subject to a general lien on the goods transferred for
all sums due from the original storer.

4. — Where the Company do cartage, it is understood they are not liable for any
loss or damage which can be covered by Insurance, and those interested, in taking
out Policy, must effect same without recourse, as the Company do not accept
responsibility for insurable risks.

5. — The Company will not be answerable for any delay, loss or damage arising
from combinations or strikes of any persons in their employ or in the service of
others, nor for any consequences arising therefrom.

6. — The Company has the right to remove from the premises, if necessary with-
out notice, any goods found to be of an offensive nature, or such as will damage

THE STOREKEEPERS' DUTIES 181

other good* in the •tore, and hai the right to remove good* to other cold •tores, if
for any reaatm they find it advisable.
7. — Content* of package, and condition, unknown.

Working all Round the Clock.

One of the storekeeper's responsibilities to his clients in the
ordinary way of business is the delivery and weighing of goods
of specified brand at any hour, day or night. Sometimes
notice is sent, but the storekeeper has to work all round the
clock and hold himself in readiness to deliver meat on demand.
There is no form of agreement between the storer and the
storekeeper defining the responsibilities of the latter in this
and other respects ; custom controls the matter. The public
cold-storekeeper is the weighing authority ; thousands of sales
are made on the storekeeper's weights, which in ordinary
business transactions are regarded as final.

In connection with the numerous parcels held in store,
surveys are of daily occurrence, and facilities are provided by
the proprietors, inspection chamber accommodation in some
cases being provided, for which a charge is made. By this
inspection is meant the examination which is nowadays almost
invariably made under the marine policy. In the noteworthy
case of Kidman v. Blofeld and Lisenden, tried in 1903, the plain-
tiff sought to show that it was customary in the trade for holders
of meat in cold stores, whether as principals or agents, to have
the goods " inspected from time to time with the view of ascer-
taining their condition." In this case the meat in question
was seriously depreciating in value while being held in store
for a market by the shipper's instructions. The judge found that
the alleged practice of periodical inspections was not made out.

The satisfactory condition of frozen meat as delivered at
Smithfield or elsewhere from the London cold stores, and,
indeed, from the well-managed public cold stores to be met with
in all parts of the United Kingdom, speaks well for the system
and management of these establishments. The keen com-
petition between the stores and the close observation by
importers' and underwriters' surveyors combine to produce
excellent results.

CHAPTER XIII

THE GREAT SMITHFIELD MARKET

THE London Central Markets, from that fateful day in Feb-
ruary, 1880, when the 40 tons of frozen meat ex Strathleven
were sold at 5\d. per Ib. to the present time, when 250,000
tons of chilled and frozen meat are handled annually at the
salesmen's stalls, have played an all-important part in the rise
of the frozen meat industry. Smithfield has been the arbiter
whose verdict the farmers, graziers, and estancieros of the
lands in the South have awaited with expectant and anxious
feelings. But the response of the great London market was
never in doubt. Whilst the producers of frozen meat have
been able to build up an immense trade with the co-operation
of Smithfield, the salesmen were quick to perceive what bound-
less possibilities were opened up to them with the coming of the
refrigerator and the transport of the sheep and cattle in frozen
form from the Australian runs. So they welcomed the Strath-
leven's cargo and the meat from New Zealand and Argentina
as it came along in 1882 and 1883.

For the last thirty years Smithfield has taken the frozen
meat trade under its wing, and, the greatest of markets in the
greatest of cities, has impressed the imagination of the Austra-
lian and New Zealand meat exporters to a remarkable extent.
No institution connected with the realization of merchandise
has been so much discussed and keenly criticized by its sup-
porters as has Smithfield. " Smithfield scandals," " Smithfield
rings," " Smithfield practices " — these and other topics of like
nature have furnished interesting material for the newspapers
and public speakers 10,000 miles away full many a time and
oft. The relations of the great market and its customers have
provided frequently cause for friction, and Smithfield itself
often comments, in no gentle tones, upon the methods of her

u

! *

2

I*

II

il

j<

_

It

Si

!•* * ^"*

= 5£

THE GREAT SMITHFIELD MARKET is;

Australasian and American suppliers. But criticism and
recrimination have never stayed the sailings of merchant
vessels laden with the frozen carcasses, nor checked the return
flow of British money into the hands of the sheep and cattle
kings of the southern hemisphere ; the producer in Austral-
asia and the salesman at Smithfield are necessary to each
other.

From the tentative transactions of 1879 — 1880 Smithfield has
moulded, as to marketing methods, the frozen meat trade,
limb by limb and feature by feature ; and in the process has
itself vastly changed and developed. For instance, though for
years the frozen meat trade at Smithfield was in the hands of
a few salesmen and jobbers, now not less than 200 parties —
c.i.f. men, jobbers, agents, etc. — out of the 340 tenants are
engaged in this branch of the market's business, and their
number is constantly on the increase. Moreover, the large
proportion of about 50 per cent, of the meat handled by the
great multiple meat shop concerns is frozen, and, as a matter
of fact, does not pass through Smithfield at all. First, the few
hundred carcasses sent from Australia as an experiment to
commission salesmen, then the regular marketing of large
quantities from the three great producing countries through
the agency of distributing firms and companies, handled
in a systematic way, and later the 'evolution of the c.i.f.
trade, enabling the multiple retail shop owner to cover him-
self for six months ahead — Smithfield has participated in all
these eventful developments. All the problems of the trade
virtually take their rise in the London Central Markets, in the
avenues of which one sees visitors from the Americas and the
great lands of the Southern Seas. The New Zealand farmer
shipping frozen meat regards Smithfield as his Mecca, and is
not always content with one brief pilgrimage. The London
Central Markets receive Russian Princes, English Secretaries
of State, and Australian Prime Ministers, as occasional visitors,
ami the " porters' band " wielding knives and cleavers gives
them musical honours. The " Tall Hat Brigade " is on duty
soon after 9 a.m., gentlemen peregrinating the market avenues,
engaged in a quest for business, or for information concerning

184 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

the frozen meat trade. The more legitimate frequenters of
Smithfield are buyers (wholesale dealers, butchers, retailers,
restaurant and hotel proprietors), and, of course, the importers
and agents.

To some degree Smithfield has lost its importance of late
years. In the hope of bettering distribution, the Americans, and
some of the distributing firms handling frozen meat, established
depots at Croydon, Kingston, Richmond, Reading, Brighton,
Bournemouth, etc., and at these depots meat is sold that
would have been formerly handled at Smithfield. In the pro-
cess of decentralization which is being applied to the frozen
meat trade the London Central Markets suffer severely, and,
instead of accompanying this great industry in its rise, Smith-
field, as far as the proportion of its pitchings to the total frozen
meat trade of the Kingdom is concerned, is not advancing.
Importers sell ex store or ex ship considerable quantities of
frozen meat which formerly would have been brought into the
market, and the purlieus of Smithfield are dotted with the
offices of importers' firms whose interests to a great extent are
interdependent with that of the Central Markets. Changed
methods of business, the development of c.i.f. and ex store
buying by the large meat retailers, direct shipping to outports,
and sundry other influences, have checked the volume of
imported chilled and frozen meat passing through Smithfield
from keeping pace with the total trade in frozen and chilled
meat. Although the markets' total operations have increased,
the percentage of the total imports of these meats marketed at
Smithfield has steadily fallen from 65' 7 in 1882—1886 — the
beginning of the frozen meat era — to 41 in 1910. The managers
of the markets are sore about this, and regret to find that
Smithfield's distributive area is now practically confined to
the metropolis. In former days its area reached as far as
Birmingham, and salesmen now in Smithfield could tell us
that they have supplied customers in Edinburgh. Nowadays
much more meat comes to London from the country than goes
from Smithfield to the Provinces. Australasia has not been
faithful to Smithfield. North and South America have
defaulted too. Grouping together the last two sources of

t .fl, . •! <|.»'«

V

~''$t

^'i*-

•• V. •;>

i \ ?«s. ^

-" . -^. T -

•

1111 (.IJKAT 8MTTHFIELD MARKET 1H.1

supply, in 1881 their ratio per cent, of meat marketed at
Smithfield to the total importations into the United Kingdom
was 68 ; in 1010 it was 40 per cent. The above decrease*!
must not be taken in any way to indicate a smaller amount
of meat marketed at Smithfield, but only a smaller ratio to
the total imports into Great Britain.

But, speaking of quite recent times, it is doubtful if Smith -
field has been losing ground even in ratio to the total imports
into Great Britain, when one regards the volume of South
American chilled beef brought to the London Central Markets
vid Southampton. The shipping development of this chilled
beef trade of the Nelson and Royal Mail Company's lines
probably has also been instrumental in causing a relative
increase in the South American trade done in London during
the last few years as well as a decrease in the provincial
business.

Old Smithfield.

But before proceeding farther, it is better to revert to the
beginnings of things. No part of London has a greater wealth
of tradition attaching to it than has Smithfield and its surround-
ings— " Smooth field " it was termed in the medieval days
when Bartholomew Fair was held there, when tournaments
took place and duels were fought. In the days of Mary and
Elizabeth, Catholics and Protestants burnt each other by turn
at Smithfield. It was the place for public executions before
Tyburn became fashionable. As a market for horses, and live
stock for killing, we hear of Smithfield in 1150. Billingsgate
was selling fish, by the way, 1,000 years ago. Smithfield
market in 1253 was the property of the Corporation, and
Edward III. covenanted by charter with the City of London
not to grant permission to other parties to set up a market
within a radius of seven miles from the City. The erection of
markets was the King's prerogative. In those times the market
price of food was regulated by the City authorities ; in 1533 it
was enacted that butchers should sell their beef not above a
halfpenny a pound and mutton three farthings, " which act

186 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

being devised for the great commodity of the Realm " (as it
was then thought), " hath since proved far otherwise, for before
that time a fat ox was sold at London for six and twenty
shillings and eightpence at the most, a fat wether for three
shillings and fourpence, a fat calf the like price, a fat lamb for
twelvepence ; pieces of beef weighing 2| Ib. at the least, yea,
3 Ib. or better, for a penny on every butcher's stall in this City,
and of those fat pieces of beef thirteen or fourteen for twelve-
pence, fat mutton for eightpence the quarter, and one cwt. of
beef for four shillings and eightpence at the dearest.'' There
were then 120 butchers in the City and suburbs, and of these
every one killed six oxen a week, " which is in forty-six weeks
33,120 oxen, or 720 weekly." The foreign butchers for a long
time stood in the High Street of Lime Street Ward on the north
side twice every week — viz., Wednesday and Saturday — " and
were some gain to the tenants before whose doors they stood,
and into whose houses they set their blocks and stalls ; but
that advantage being espied they were taken into Leadenhall,
there to pay for their standing to the Chamber of London."
These references are from Stow's " Survey of London." In
1631 a writer, Howes, gives " Ruffians' Hall " as a cant name
for West Smithfield, on account of its being " the usuall place
of frayes and common fighting during the time that sword and
buckler were in use." The Corporation appear to have claimed
market tolls in the fifteenth century. One of the features of
the riotous St. Bartholomew's Fair was the enormous sale of
roast pork, and beef sausages came into fashion in 1750, at
about which time it is noted that the average weight of oxen
was 370 Ibs., and of sheep 28 Ibs. The Fair was closed in
1830 ; the Corporation bought the Bartholomew Priory rights
in 1850. Smithfield was then the market for live stock ; and
the dead meat mart was at Newgate Market, which was
close by.

Smithfield Market in 1853.

An article in the Quarterly Review, June, 1854, " The London
Commissariat," by Dr. Andrew Wynter, presents the live

Mil GREAT SMITHFIKL1) MARKET

187

stock market of Smithfield very vividly, and the following
extract is made : —

What they do MO in reality, if they have courage to wend their way along any of
the tumble-down street* approaching to Smithfield, which the great fire unfor-
tunately spared, is an irregular space bounded by dirty houses and the ragged
party walls of demolished habitations, which give it the appearance of the site of a
recent conflagration— the whole space comprising just six acres, fifteen perches,
roads and public thorough! ares included. . . . Thanks to the common sense which
has at length lifted up its potential voice, the days of Smithfield are numbered, and
those who wish to see this enormous aggregation of edible quadrupeds bcf«r< ii
takes its departure to its spacious new abode at Copenhagen Fields raunt not delay
the visit much longer. The best time is early in the morning — say, one or two o'clock
of the "great day," as the last market before Christmas-day is called. On this
occasion, not only the space — calculated to hold 4,100 oxen and 30,000 sheep, besides
calves snd pigs — is crammed, but the approaches around it overflow with live stock
for many hundred feet, and sometimes the cattle are seen blocking up the passage as
far as 8t Sepulchre's church. . . . The meat itself suffers in quality, for anything
like fright or passion is well known to affect the blood, and consequently the flesh.
Beasts subjected to such disturbances will often turn green within twenty-four
hours after death.

The same writer, after careful examination of all the sources
of supply, gives the following estimate — in those days there were
no exact statistics — of the butchers' meat consumed by the
2,500,000 people who formed the population of the capital in
1853. Dr. Wynter values these marketing stock at £14,000,000.

—

BSMto,

Sheep.

Calve*.

ma

ite Meat Market
Leaden hall Meat Market .

Live stock brought to London .

Total supply of live stock and meat to
London in 1853 ....

156,000

:..:!""

468,000
tlflK

11,100

31,200

101,200
322,188

609,600
1,630,793

31,200
101,776

31,200

1J7.V-..'

mjnt

2,140,393

us^ra

1 :,'.'."-:'

These animals were brought from the neighbourhood of
London, the country parts of England, Scotland, Ireland,
and the Continent, and were handled partly at the markets and
partly by the carcass butchers throughout the metropolis.

188 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

Smithfield Market and its Supplies.

The whole district is rich with material for the tourist and
antiquarian ; the site of St. Bartholomew's Priory on the
south and the Carthusian Monastery on the north are hard by
the present markets. Shakespeare wrote of Smithfield, and
Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby reposed in this neighbourhood,
at the Saracen's Head, which hostelry is still in existence. As
a popular encyclopaedia puts it, Smithfield of old " was avail-
able for jousts, tournaments, executions, and burnings."
Tremendous congestion prevailed in these districts, which were
filthy and criminal beyond description, and in 1851 a Royal
Commission was appointed to report as to what should be done.
A scheme was adopted under which the live stock markets and
slaughter-houses were taken away to Islington and Deptford,
and the new London Central Markets, the largest dead mart
in the world, were opened in December, 1868, for the sale of
meat, poultry, and provisions. The centre of " Old Smithfield "
is now laid out with an ornamental garden and fountains.

The first part of the Central Markets was a huge
parallelogram covering 3| acres, with 162 shops. The
market was a success from the start, and was soon followed by
the erection of the poultry section, opened in December, 1875.
In 1879 the fruit and vegetable market was begun, to be
followed by the fish market, now termed the Smithfield Market
Annexe and used as a meat section. Last, but not least, the
extension, which is now entirely given up to frozen and chilled
meat, was opened in 1889 for general trade. The western-
most section of Smithfield was nicknamed the " Japanese
Village " because of the somewhat Japanese style of the
original decorations.

The London Central Markets as a whole now occupy about
ten acres ; the main building, bounded by Long Lane on the
south and Charterhouse Street on the north, stretches 600
feet east and west by 240 feet north and south. The building
is in the Italian style with Mansard glass louvre roof ; the
central avenue is 27 feet wide, and there are six side avenues.
Each shop is about 36 feet by 15 feet, and behind every shop

MIIHMIM. M\I:KM \IK.\V I>K IMKKII.I: . KSTKAL AVKSI n \M« «-K mi N.-KIH

><i<* p. 188

THE CJHI AT SMTTHFIELD MARKET

Is an enclosed counting-house with offices above. The markets
are strictly wholesale, except on Saturday evenings, when a
few of the employees conduct a retail " People's Market."
Th« TO are at present 340 tenants holding 344 holdings and
giving employment to about 5,000 persons. The toll (2a. 3d.
• m) on meat, etc., in 1910 came to £46,616, and the stall
rents to £81,448. The total capital expended on the markets
by the Corporation to 1909 exceeded £2,000,000.

The growth of Smithfield Market, which means the growth
of the imported meat movement, is seen at a glance in the
following table, extracted from the annual report of the
Superintendent of the Market, Mr. H. W. G. Millman : —

Origin or sources of supplies in Urms per cent.

Imported production! , Chilled or

Tear.

Weight of
Supplie*
marketed.

" English
killed* and
United

Frozen.

Kingdom
produc-
tion*.

and South
American
Chill*! and

1 -'! ••• •>.

Austral-
asian
i ; DM u .

1': ' .•••::.

Conti-
nental.

Tons.

1869

IL';.;'*I

97-7

Nil

Nil

2-3

1877

197,681

89-0

7-4

Nil

3-6

1««7

169,888

77-5

9-5

5-8

7-2

iv.r

898,807

47-9

18-8

20-3

13-0

1907

417,067

36-6

24-6

26-7

131

1910

419,550

•>:>••:

82-6

25-2

12-6

The average daily pitchings of meat at the Central Markets
during 1910 were 24,000 mutton and lamb carcasses, 2,700
quarters of beef, and 2,500 pork carcasses.

An exceedingly interesting chapter of Smithfield's history
is opened up when we examine the effect produced upon the
great Central Markets by the coming of chilled and then frozen
meat. For the five years prior to the Strathleven's arrival,
meat produced in the United Kingdom was 86 per cent, of the
whole quantity marketed at Smithfield ; the 14 per cent,
imported had grown to 70-4 in 1910. This drop of 56 per
cent, in the proportion of home supplies in the thirty years has,
of course, involved a complete change in the methods of the

190 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

market. (It must be noted that these percentages of home
and imported meat supplies apply to London only. For the
country as a whole the figures are, approximately, for beef and
mutton : home produced, 63'5 per cent. ; imported, 36*5 per
cent., equal to 88'7 Ibs. per head of the population per annum.)
When frozen meat first appeared, the small quantity of meat
imported was refrigerated American beef and Dutch and
French meat ; there were large consignments from France of
all sorts, calves, sheep, etc., and the beef was of very good
quality. In country districts frozen meat has satisfied a
newly-created want, but in London it has — by its excellence
and cheapness, and its appeal to the seven million consumers
within twenty miles radius of Smithfield — been gradually
supplanting other kinds of meat.

By about 1883 frozen meat had become so important on the
Central Markets that the Corporation had to make special
provision for it, but even then that body failed to grasp
how indispensable an auxiliary cold storage would prove
to be to the meat trade and the market — hence it missed
its finest opportunity of becoming the cold storage authority
within the area of its market rights. The market sales-
men took the incoming of the Australasian and Argentine
meat with great calmness ; gradually more discrimination
was exercised as to quality, brands, etc., as frozen meat
became a force at Smithfield. The more enterprising of
the salesmen of the markets opened their arms gladly
to the produce of the South ; many firms saw the potenti-
alities that lay in the new business, took it up on a proper
scale, and did well. At first only a few salesmen went into
the business, but by degrees frozen meat penetrated farther
and farther, and now it has conquered nearly the whole market
and has become absolutely necessary to the majority of the
tenants.

The American Invasion.

This may be a fitting place to write of the American invasion
of Smithfield and what came of it. Mr. T. C. Eastman was

THE GREAT SMITH! III.!) MARKET 1!M

the shipper, from New York in October, 1875, of the first lot

of Am. nr.m chilled beef to this country, and he must have due
credit for this pioneer enterprise. A baron of that beef was sent
to Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle, and Eastmans, Ltd., have
the Royal Seal in connection with that transaction. The
Queen pronounced the meat to be " very good." The shippers
of this early American chilled beef included Toffee Brothers,
(iillctte (Jersey City), Martin Fuller (Philadelphia), and
Sherman (Philadelphia). This beef was stitched up in canvas
and was hung in the ships' chambers, which were kept at a
reduced temperature by the use of ice. Mr. J. D. Link acted
as agent for Mr. Eastman up to the time when Messrs. John
Bell and Sons took over the agency.

Prior to the beginning of the chilled beef trade small quan-
t it iis of beef, hard frozen, arrived at Smithfield from the United
States ; hindquarters arrived in long boxes, " as hard as a
stone," but bright and in good condition. The frozen beef
made about 2$d. to 3d. per Ib. — it was mostly hindquarters.
English beef in 1874 was making 9d. a Ib., and probably this
price tempted the Americans. Quite inconsiderable in volume,
and negligible as a market factor, was this early frozen beef
from North America. Of course, it was frozen by ice and
salt mixture. The American chilled beef when it first
came was very large — from four-year-old cattle. For years
the American meat did not affect prices to any degree
in the Central Markets — it was a " little outside trade." After
1880 the chilled beef became important, but the wonderful
jump forward was in the decade 1888 — 1897, when both chilled
and frozen meat took up a commanding position in Smithfield
supplies. The quality of the chilled beef from North America
was so good that it forced itself into general use.

When the goods first came to Smithfield, and for many years
-wards, they were handled by salesmen on commission.
At length there came a time when the Americans said, "Why
should we not sell for ourselves ? " So they acquired various
stalls in the Grand Avenue, paying heavy sums for the goodwill.
It is only fair to say that the American firms themselves state
that one reason which led them to market their own beef was

192 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

that they did not " get a very square deal with some of the
Smithfield salesmen." There were difficulties between the
American importers and some of their salesmen. At any rate,
the former made up their minds to sell their own meat. It is
on record that the Morris Beef Co., which has three shops, paid
for the goodwill of one, the stall which belonged to Mr. Edward
Poole, £16,000, £11,500 for another, the Venables stall, and
£12,500 for the third, the one acquired from Messrs. Jennings.
The Hammond Beef Co. has two stalls on the market ; Armours
hold four stalls. By the " Combinations in the Meat Trade "
Commission it was put to Mr. Woodruff that Swifts (who hold
six shops at Smithfield) in 1901 paid £12,000 for the goodwill
of one of the stalls they acquired, transferred by Mr. Frost.
To the same Commission one of the American witnesses said
that the Americans hold about 5 per cent, of the Smithfield
stalls — that would be seventeen. These stalls just referred to
are stalls run in the name of the companies, or partners. But
it is constantly said and suggested in letters to the Press
that the Americans are interested in shops nominally held
and conducted by other parties, and that if the truth were
known it would be found that they really control a large number
of shops at Smithfield.

Administration of the Market.

The control and management of the Central Markets is vested
in a committee of the Corporation consisting of six aldermen
and twenty-nine commoners ; no tenant of the market is per-
mitted to belong to the committee. The chairman of the com-
mittee in 191 1 was Mr. James Rowland Brough. The rule exclud-
ing tenants is of comparatively recent origin, and is constantly
being attacked on the ground that a committee of management
skilled, as to its personnel, in every mercantile business except
that of handling meat must of necessity be incapable of a
thoroughly efficient, just, and sympathetic administration of
London's great Central Markets. Considering how vast and
highly complex the operations of the Central Markets are, and
the number and variety of interests involved, it does appear

Illl (-K1.AT SMITIJFIELI) MARKET I!) :*

reasonable that the market community itself should be repre-
sented on the Markets Committee — the market representatives
need, of course, never exceed a voting minority of the com-
mittee.

An important part of the administration of the Central
Markets is that concerned with the inspection of the meat
supplies by the Corporation officers. The Medical Officer
• •: Health for the City of London is charged, among other
things, with the duty to the public of ensuring that a pure
supply of fresh food passes through the marts of Smithfield.
Mr. T. D. Young is chief inspector, and there is a staff of
twelve inspectors, constantly on the watch to detect unsound
meat. It must be stated that the tenants themselves are of
great assistance to the inspectors, for a considerable proportion
of the meat condemned represents cases voluntarily brought
before the inspectors by the salesmen. In 1910 1,427 tons of
meat were dealt with by the market authority as unsound :
("diseased," 119 tons, "putrid" [mostly accidentally damaged],
1,164 tons, and "unwholesome," 144 tons) — a mere fraction of
the whole quantity supplied to the market.

The meat condemned by the inspectors is chemically dealt
with at the Corporation condemned meat sheds adjacent to
the market, so as to prevent its being used as foodstuff, and it is
then sold for commercial purposes, the proceeds being retained
l>y the Corporation to cover the alleged expenses, or handed
over to the owners, less certain charges.

The Corporation's Claims in 1904.

That the Corporation of the City of London keep and have
kept a keen eye upon the developments of the frozen meat
trade is evidenced by their having raised the question of tolls
in a special way in 1904. In that year some excitement
was caused in Smithfield frozen meat circles by the Markets'
Committee's attempt to revise the Central Markets' con-
st it ution by introducing new by-laws. The Corporation of
London claimed the right to collect tolls on meat sold
at Smithfield although delivered direct from store without

F.M. o

194 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

going on the market. Such a claim would practically
involve payment of toll on every carcass imported into
London and would be a tax on the food supplies of
the metropolis. The Corporation also desired to make by-
laws to control the operations of wholesale dealers and agents
who transacted business with Smithfield salesmen. This point
is dealt with in the following extract from one of the suggested
by-laws : — " Any person not being a tenant of the markets
who shall, in the markets or their approaches, hawk or offer for
sale any goods, or solicit or tout for or take any order for
any provisions or marketable commodities, shall, for every
offence, forfeit and pay a sum not exceeding £5." What was
meant by " approaches " is understood when it is mentioned
that, under the old charter, the Corporation took the term to
include a radius of seven miles from the Central Meat Markets.
These claims were really a protest against the system which
had grown up of delivering frozen meat " ex store " ; such
meat, instead of, as formerly, being brought into the market,
would be sold there by sample, on brand, or otherwise, and the
bulk would be despatched from cold store. Probably, the
Corporation hi making these claims were actuated to some
degree by the knowledge that not a jot of the enormous profits
made occasionally in the transfer of Central Avenue stalls —
for the " good will " — to American houses came its way. And
as to the second part of its new demands, the Corporation
objected to the Market being used as an open exchange, for
buyers and sellers — not being tenants — to meet there and do
business. It was necessary that the Board of Trade should
grant permission for the suggested by-laws to be added to
the Central Markets' constitution, and at this point the Frozen
Meat Trade Association, after having, in conjunction with the
Agents-General for Australasia and other trade associations,
resisted the proposals, lodged with the Board of Trade a com-
prehensive statement of objections to certain of the by-laws.
The Board of Trade was to have held an enquiry into the
suggested by-laws, but the inquiry was postponed at the
request of the Corporation in 1905, and has not taken place to
the present time. The course adopted by the Association was

mi (,KI:AT SMITHFIELD MARKET 195

successful in blocking the proposals of the Corporation in a
general way, though some change was from that time made in
the form of tenants' agreements to cover the Markets Com-
mittee's claims in this matter of tolls. One effect of the
Corporation's claims to penalize persons (non-tenants) who
attempted to " hawk " or " tout " in the markets was to
cause firms who did the sort of business aimed at to establish
themselves in offices round the market in West Smithfield.
This had been going on for some time, and the possibility of
cumulative £5 fines made firms get a stand outside the market.
The whole matter has now narrowed down into arrangements
between the Corporation and its tenants, and where the agree-
ments (which vary in different parts of the Market) admit of
Mich action, the Corporation exacts toll from tenants on all
meat sold at their stalls whether delivered from the stalls or
from outside cold store. The episode is interesting as a protest
on t ho part of the Corporation of London against the decentrali-
zation of the chilled and frozen meat trade from the Central
Markets.

Getting the Meat to Market.

Insulated vans convey the meat from the dock stores to the
market. The cold stores begin loading up meat for Smithfield
at about 10 p.m., and the vans reach the market about 3 a.m.
the- following morning. The salesmen and their staff arrive
before 4 a.m., at which time the retailers begin to come along,
all in a hurry to get their daily supplies for London's flesh-food
needs.

There are several toll offices outside the market, and each
van-load of meat is weighed, and the toll (2s. 3d. per ton) paid to
the clerk, who gives a pass, which is handed to the policeman
at the portals of the great Smithfield market. The meat is
borne on the backs of stalwart market porters to the various
" shops " or " stalls " ; these porters are strenuous persons,
and stand not upon the order of their going. To meet in full
career a porter laden with a 200-lb. quarter of " hard " beef
is to experience a "knock-out." Sample carcasses of the

o 2

196 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

different qualities and weights are unclothed and hung up on
the salesman's hooks, the bulk being stripped for examination
by buyers when purchasing. In this way from one carcass to
200 carcasses are sold at a time, according to the requirements
of retail buyers, who consist of suburban butchers, represen-
tatives of the large stores, Government contractors, restaurant
keepers, etc. The retail buyers may also purchase joints,
pieces or " oddments," and some of the Smithfield stallholders
make a speciality of cutting up carcasses to oblige their cus-
tomers. In the chilled beef trade " rumps " and " loins " are
very commonly cut from the hindquarters for the West-end
butcher. The buyer negotiates swiftly — there's no time to
waste at Smithfield ! — and if a bargain is struck, wooden
skewers are stuck in the carcasses, which are forthwith again
shouldered by the porters and carried to the waiting van of
the buyer, or, perchance, to one of the two railways which
run underneath the market.

Market Methods at Smithfield.

The keen purchaser frequently buys on the brand ; he usually
inspects the tag attached to the carcass to satisfy himself as to
the " sub-marks " for quality and weight. The suburban
butcher often likes to secure Canterbury brands, and sees that
the ticket is left on the carcass so that he can, if necessary,
show his customers that he is selling genuine Canterbury meat.
For all comers the salesman is prepared ; he will sell you a
shoulder of mutton, a dozen kidneys, or 500 sheep, for he caters
for " one and all."

The rule in settling hi the Central Markets is a week's credit.
Credit is given for longer terms in some rare cases, but the
frequency of bad debts in the market of late years has limited
this practice, and the salesman now pulls his man up very
sharply if he fails to pay promptly.

It is only to be expected that the biggest meat mart in the
world has complexities which would prevent the onlooker who
cursorily regards its operations from getting to the bottom of its
methods. Its salesmen are divided, roughly, into sections,

THE GREAT SMITIIFIEI.I) MARKET

197

and one division is according to the trade in which they are
engaged. Though the tendency of late years has been for the
Smithfield tenants to cultivate a mixed business, there are
some who still confine themselves to the Scotch trade, some to
American beef, and others to the frozen business. But the
two major classes into which the salesmen are divided are the
commission salesmen and the jobbers; there is a third — the
direct importer.

The commission salesman receives consignments of meat
from anybody and everybody, and his rate of commission
varies. On the authority of an old tenant, " for the last forty
years 2| per cent, has been the standing commission for all
meat except pork, which is sold at Is. per pig under 12 stone
(of 8 Ibs.) and Id. per stone above that weight. Poultry is
supposed to be consigned at 5 per cent, commission, but in
that trade special arrangements are frequently made." The
commission salesman pure and simple is fast becoming a
rarity in the markets, largely on account of the low prices of
frozen meat ; little can be made out of the customary 2 per
rent ., which rate has extensively prevailed notwithstanding
what is mentioned just above.

The so-called commission man often indulges in a little
speculation on his own account, and in so doing becomes a
jobber. The jobber is a trader who buys for resale. He is
also prepared to take goods on commission when it suits him ;
sometimes it does not. In cases of congested markets salesmen
may decline to accept goods for sale ; cases of 5 per cent, having
been offered are on record, and sometimes the salesman may
bargain for Id. per stone commission. The jobbers go down
early in the morning, and are at their shops between 3 and
4 a.m., before the butchers go to the market. The purchases
of frozen meat from the importers are generally effected
between 9 a.m. and noon of the day preceding that on which
it is pitched on the market, this being the only time when t he
salesmen have the opportunity of discussing deals with the
importers. The rates at which this business is done go a
long way to determining the prices ruling next day, though,
of course, the total supply and the total demand of the day

198 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

overrule to some extent the question of the cost price of the
meat. Smithfield Market, with its vastness and multiplicity
of interests, is large enough to make a study of the influences
that determine the market price of the day a subject as elusive
and as deep as it is attractive to follow. As a rule, a jobber
does not pay toll on any meat bought inside the market, the
importer having paid it ; but on meat, etc., bought outside
the market the jobber has to pay toll, though it is necessary
to qualify this by saying that the practice depends on the
terms of purchase.

The Americans are doing a lot of harm to the jobber. Their
operations make it difficult for him to exist, and the day may
come when the jobber will be almost eliminated. He has to
be a very smart man indeed, and has to watch the market with
lynx-like eyes to secure his " turn." He is essentially a
" spot " operator.

The term " direct trader " may serve to describe the position
of the third class. The man who buys live stock (the " carcass
man ") and brings the carcasses to Smithfield for sale on his
own account, and the c.i.f. buyer of frozen meat, fall into this
category, as they get very near the producer. But the Smith-
field tenants who form the majority of this division are the
large firms of importers who distribute from Smithfield in a
wholesale manner, or sell to their co-stallholders. The
American houses and the companies in the Australasian and
South American trade, although they may do at times commis-
sion and jobbing business, are a very distinctive class of Smith-
field tenants, and one likely to increase.

Prices for the Day.

The meat prices vary from day to day and, in times of market
excitement, from hour to hour. It is not easy to understand
and explain how these rates come to be fixed in and accepted
by a market of such enormous proportions and divergent
interests. Retailers going from stall to stall could tell us that
wonderfully little variation exists in the ideas as to the day's
prices on the part of the salesmen. It used to be imagined in

THE GREAT SMITHFIELI) MARKET

I!)!)

New Zealand that prices for frozen meat were settled day by
day by the Smithfield " ring " i The slightest knowledge of
Sinithfiold's business shows that a "ring" cannot exist — it
could were frozen meat a market by itself and in the hands of
a few. But New Zealand frozen meat is only a small percentage
of Smithfield's pitchings, and has to take its place alongside
English, Scotch, American, Dutch, Australian, Argentine, and
other meats. It is impossible to mention all the factors working
automatically towards current meat prices. " We feel it in
the air," said one of the salesmen, when asked how the market
tenants arrived at the morning's prices. A few of the more
obvious influences may be mentioned. First, of course, any
change in the public demand for meat, favourable or unfavour-
able ; retailers' buyings would be affected by this, and the
weather has a curiously potent (not altogether sentimental)
effect in causing the butcher to purchase briskly or cautiously.
Then would come the controlling factor in the situation, the
supplies of meat — not only frozen meat, but all sorts, for the
different descriptions act and react upon one another, and the
price movements of superior kinds strongly affect the whole
market. The salesman knows roughly the quantities of meat
warehoused in London, and the expected imports, and he learns
from the carriers the bulk to be pitched on the market on a
certain day. Argentine chilled beef, very sensitive as to value,
powerfully influences market prices. The state of general
trade in the country has its effect. The salesman, with all
these currents and influences around him, weighs the general
< -i tv u instances of the meat market and arrives at a rough
idea of the marketing value of his meat. Of course there
is much " come and go " in the business. If, for example, he
considers that the factors promise well, he will test his buyers
with a penny per stone rise on the market rates of the previous
day. Finding his sales checked, he drops his price again an
hour later, but if sales continue freely, he may try for a further
advance. The same general principles, presumably, apply to
Smithfield as to all other open markets and exchanges, tlu-
fluctuations in price being intensified in the case of meat by
reason of its perishable nature.

CHAPTER XIV

REACHING THE CONSUMER

THE retail sale of frozen meat puts the whole industry to the
touch. The New Zealand farmer, the Argentine estanciero,
the Queensland grazier, have in mind the fancies of the English
meat-buying public in breeding their animals for freezing.
The whole of this business, with its enormous invested capital
and widely extended mercantile links, depends as to adequate
financial return upon the favours of the British consumer.
Engineers burn the midnight oil in designing new and
economical machinery and plant for freezing works, ship, and
cold store. Shipping and railway systems are changed
especially to serve the needs of the transport of frozen meat ;
marketing and mercantile methods swiftly adapt themselves
to its distribution. All these processes await their crucial test
at the butcher's shop. Of course, the " butcher " is not now
a butcher, but a meat retailer, and the frozen meat trade has
brought about the change.

The retail meat trade in England is divided into two classes,
the butcher who kills his animals in his own slaughterhouses,
and the meat purveyor who purchases his stock-in-trade in
the markets. The latter class, with which this chapter is
concerned, is again split up into three sections. There is the
" family trade " man who sells meat of the highest quality
obtainable ; he runs accounts, and has often to give long credit.
The " mixed trade " man gives some credit, but his business
is mostly on a cash basis. Then there is the " Colonial " or
" cutting " trade — all cash business. The family trade shop
makes its principal show at the beginning of the week, the
mixed trade shop at the end ; as for the " cutting " shop,
there's no show at all. Immediately the frozen meat goes into
stock, there it is cut up hard and bright.

Ki.\< IM\G THE CONSUMER

In the mixed trade shops home-killed, American, and frozen
beef and mutton are sold, as well as small quantities of pork and
Teal. A small " tut ting " shop is generally closed on Monday,
as its daily supplies are shut off by the occurrence of Sunday,
and its customers seldom require fresh meat on the following
day. Frozen mutton and lamb, and forequarter beef, suet, etc.,
are the goods dealt in : at such a shop about fifteen sheep, five
lambs, and three fores of beef will be handled on Saturday.
These shops are mostly met with in provincial towns, and the
majority are run in the names of, or are " tied " to, the great
shop-owning companies. A word in passing here : the family
butcher to a great extent has found out that he must keep
frozen lamb (New Zealand) in stock, and also, very frequently,
New Zealand mutton. If he does not, his customers go to the
retailer who does. It is quite a recognized thing for people
who would not dream of buying frozen meat in general to
purchase Canterbury lamb. Possibly the feelings of these
worthy conservatives are soothed by the magic of " Canter-
bury." There may be recorded the well-authenticated state-
ment that many innocents buy Canterbury (New Zealand)
meat sincerely believing that it comes from the Romney
Marshes of Old England. The proportion of Canterbury lamb
handled in the high-class shops increases when home mutton
is dear, and decreases when home mutton is cheap.

The Producer and Retail Business.

It has been the dream of many of the producers in New
Zealand and Australia to run their own shops in England, to
hold their meat in their own hands right through the whole
cycle, and not to surrender the ultimate link to the English
meat purveyor. In New Zealand the producer — not the
freezing company — has been very keen on this ; not altogether
because of the retailing profit. He has long been convinced
of the excellence of the meat he sends to England, and has
naturally resented the good deal of improper substitution that
in the past has taken place in the retail vending of frozen meat
in various parts of the Old Country. Royal Commissions

202 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

have showed him that frozen mutton has been sold as home-
produced, of which he surely, as well as the English farmer,
has a right to complain, and police court prosecutions have
revealed the practice of inferior frozen meat being palmed off
as " Canterbury " or " New Zealand." The New Zealand
grower has desired above all that the article he produces shall
not lose its identity when it reaches the shop stage, and he
bitterly resents the fraudulent use of the description " New
Zealand " in the selling of frozen meat. But the improvement
that has taken place of late in the quality of South American
and Australian mutton tends to lessen the grounds for the
New Zealander's complaint in this connection. According to
the oft-stated opinions of all practical men in the meat trade
of Great Britain, New Zealand mutton has steadily deteriorated
in quality in recent years, chiefly because New Zealand has
decided to develop her lamb trade at the expense of mutton.
The keen demand for lambs for freezing has tempted farmers
to ship many of their most promising young animals instead
of keeping them for breeding stock.

Schemes, of which there have been many, have in the past
been framed mainly in order to give shippers the benefit of
retail profits. To give an instance, there was a very elaborate
draft scheme, dated 1887, for selling New Zealand mutton and
lamb in twenty shops, to be opened in fifteen of the most
important centres of Great Britain. It was proposed to invest
£10,000 in the venture, and to turn over 2,000 carcasses a
week. A respectable profit was counted upon, but the scheme,
intended to conserve the retail selling returns for the New
Zealand interests, never got beyond paper.

With regard to proposals in this direction that were carried
to completion, a bold move was made in 1899 by the Christ-
church Meat Co. in inducing Mr. H. Woodley to open up at
Queen Street, Cardiff, a shop for the sale of choicest Canterbury
mutton and lamb. The shop was fitted up in an attractive style,
with agricultural scenes pictured on the tiled walls. This
enterprise was a joint affair between the company and
Mr. Woodley, but after a few years the business was taken over
entirely by the latter. The venture was not intended in any

REACHING THE CONSUMER

way to compete with the company's c.i.f. buyers, but, on tho
contrary, was intended to assist them by advertising the
choicest qualities of New Zealand meat. This action of the
Christ-church Meat Co. in giving up their interest in the Cardiff
shop showed that the directors came to the conclusion that it
was not their business to run the retail trade, and no doubt
this is the position wisely taken up by the managers of tho
Australasian meat works in general. Another venture con-
nected with the retail sale of the highest qualities of New
Zealand meat and other produce was that of Mr. H. C. Cameron,
who opened the New Zealand Produce Stores in Manchester
in 1894. He brought New Zealand meat successfully before
classes of Manchester consumers who had been accustomed
hitherto to see lower grades of frozen meat vended in by no
means attractive shops. This business was taken over in
1898 by Messrs. W. and R. Fletcher, Ltd.

An ambitious scheme was propounded in 1903, when the
British New Zealand Meat and Produce Co., Ltd., was formed
in New Zealand with a share capital of £150,000. Quoting
from the prospectus, this company was formed " for the pur-
pose of supplying direct from the producer in New Zealand to
the consumer in Great Britain and elsewhere New Zealand
meat, butter, cheese, and other produce." Many leading men
connected with the meat export industry helped forward the
founding of the company, which had the blessing of Mr. Seddon,
Prime Minister. A prominent feature of the proposals was
the adoption of a defrosting process. The capital was reduced
to £50,000, of which sum something under £20,000 was paid
up. When business was opened in London, four suburban
shops were taken. It was discovered, however, that there
were too many butchers in London to allow of the original
scheme being carried out with success, and at the present time
the company's retail business is confined to only one shop —
at Finsbury Park. The company has, however, settled down
to ordinary importers' business, and now, with a wholesale
stall in Smithfield Market Annexe, conducts a profitable trade.
The first dividend, 6 per cent., was paid in 1908, no dividends
having been earned on the retailing business.

204 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

The idea that money could be made by meat producers
taking over the retail selling of their own frozen meat has been
very widely held in the past. About eight years ago par-
ticulars were forthcoming concerning a bold venture in this
direction. A company was to be formed with a capital of
£150,000, £100,000 of which was to be devoted to the purchase
of 400 retail meat shops, £20,000 being for preliminary expenses,
and £20,000 for working capital. It was estimated that
10,000 sheep and 2,220 cwts. of beef would be turned over
weekly, say, 431,600 cwts. of meat per annum. The cost price
of meat was put at 3d. per Ib. all round, and selling at 4d. per
Ib. left an annual gross profit of over £200,000 ; net profit
close on £30,000. The author of the prospectus, a practical
meat man, pointed out that this sum paid a handsome dividend
on capital and left a substantial surplus. The principle of
business adopted by the great London stores was to be intro-
duced. Close attention was to be given to the utilization of
the inferior parts of the carcass by having them sent to the
company's shops in poor districts. The promoter wrote :
" Our line of policy will be to transfer the * goodwill ' of local
shops from the local shopman to the company." The estimates
and the plan of campaign in this case were all worked out most
closely. What one had to take for granted, it may be presumed,
in order to arrive at the £30,000 a year net profit, was that 400
suitable shops could be acquired and manned, and the whole
revolutionary system of management set going as smoothly
as a clock is wound up. Nothing came of the scheme, but
its details are mentioned here, as they possess features of
interest.

Of course, one of the recognized difficulties of running
multiple meat shops is the unreliability of the employees,
especially in the case of businesses of a casual kind. However,
the failure of all attempts on the part of New Zealand and
Australian meat producers themselves to carry out the
retailing of their meat is due to a deeper cause, and can only
be attributed to the fact that a good farmer makes a bad
tradesman, even as, of course, a good tradesman would make
a bad farmer. English and Scotch farmers for the past fifty

REACHING Till! (ONSUMI

years have been possessed by the same idea as the New
Zealand producers, and every one of the innumerable attempt*
on their part to run their own retail shops has ended in
dismal failure.

Lamb versus Mutton.

Too much stress cannot be placed on the part which New
Zealand lamb has played in attracting a better class of cus-
tomers ; frozen meat in general has been popularized exten-
sively by this means. At times retailers have found it
profitable to push frozen lamb against home-bred mutton ; it
was not a difficult task to convince the public of the superior
eating quality of the lamb. Restaurants have taken up this
practice, finding it a good investment to put New Zealand
lamb joints on their tables in place of the more expensive
English mutton. But the lamb often appears as " mutton "
on the bill ! This policy of the retailers, only profitable
when the wholesale prices of frozen lamb do not exceed 5d.
per lb., acts prejudicially on the frozen mutton trade, and the
depression which has been felt in this section for years past is,
doubtless, accounted for partly by the increasing lamb vogue
in the shop and the home.

Attention may be drawn to the statement made so frequently
of late by writers in trade papers that mutton is becoming
" unpopular " in Great Britain. This is, probably, incorrect.
That lamb is displacing home-bred and imported mutton to
some degree, as noted above, is evident from an examination
of the statistics. In the years 1905, 1906, and 1907, imports
of frozen lambs increased splendidly. Taking receipts in the
United Kingdom from all quarters, the increases in the years
mentioned were, respectively, 592,700, 648,000, and 668,000.
In the same years the frozen mutton increases were nothing
like so considerable. With Argentina now exporting largely,
it is plain that frozen lamb is encroaching upon frozen mutton.
nsumers find lamb in a way forced upon them, their demand
for mutton must lessen ; mutton then becomes " dull " in the
wholesale marts. And the heavy supplies of English and Scotch
mutton have brought down prices for home-bred. But none

206 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

of these tendencies need convince one that the public are losing
their taste for juicy and tender mutton, which is far more
popular in the British Isles than on the Continent of Europe,
where, generally, mutton is not fancied.

One reason why frozen mutton has not made its way so
thoroughly and successfully into the better-class houses is,
probably, because to a great extent it is cooked without
sufficient hanging. Frozen meat has no chance at all unless
the frost has been entirely removed from the carcass or the
joint. Frequently the meat which was in the cold store on
Friday morning is in the citizen's oven on Sunday ; the joint
is bound to be tough. One cannot be surprised at the dislike
for frozen meat which would follow the consumption of such an
indigestible joint ! Many retailers thaw out the meat properly
by various means, but some do not. The matter is one well
worth taking in hand with a view to the education of the
public. Unfortunately, when frozen meat has been well
thawed out and has been hung till it has become ripe, it is
apt to be unsightly in appearance. On account of its excel-
lent eating qualities, frozen lamb, therefore, commands a special
field in the retail vending ; neither frozen mutton nor frozen
beef approaches it.

It must be confessed that frozen mutton is not as reliable
an article as frozen lamb, and one of the reasons why the
former has not become as popular with the public as lamb is
because of the shipment of secondary and inferior grades, and
of ewe mutton sent from Australia and New Zealand and
now beginning to arrive from South America. New Zealand
is losing her mutton trade in Great Britain to some degree.
" Plate " mutton, bright and of excellent quality, and arriving
regularly, is getting to be preferred by the retailer, and
threatens to command the markets. It is maintained by the
English meat merchants and experienced market men that
frozen mutton is somewhat lacking in flavour and tenderness,
and that shippers should be content with their mutton occupy-
ing a secondary place in the markets of Great Britain ; they
say that the intrinsic merits of the meat are indicated by the
price which it fetches on the wholesale markets. They dismiss

REACHING THE CONSUMER

the idea of " prejudice," pointing out that the word is outworn
and ridiculous when Great Britain uses over 10,000,000 frozen

carcasses annually and asks for more. Hut then- can he no ques-
tion that for the first ten to twenty years after the Strathleven
landed her cargo the force of prejudice acted as a considerable
deterrent to frozen meat enjoying the degree of popularity to
u Inch its good qualities and cheapness entitled it, prejudice
manifested in the servants' hall — at the instigation of the
butchers — and the suburban snobbishness because frozen meat
was not considered the " proper thing."

The Retailing of Beef.

Speaking of the average frozen meat shop, pure and simple,
in England, it is obvious that its style and fittings generally
are capable of much improvement. Many visitors from
Australasia and other countries remark about this. Some-
thing is wanted to make the shops brighter and more attractive.

With regard to frozen beef, the retailer has not found this
a very popular class of meat in his trade. That, at any rate, is
what he says. Probably, the far better appearance of the
(hilled beef from North and South America has created some
prejudice against the frozen quarter ; the dampness in the air
condensing upon the exposed surface of 200 Ibs. of beef causes
the rather unpleasant phenomenon popularly styled "weep-
ing." These things, however, are but externals, and no one
questions the intrinsically good quality of the frozen beef
from New Zealand and Australia and South America.

Frozen beef is mainly retailed at the cutting shops, though
the better parts find their way into the " mixed " trade. The
cheap rates at which this beef has been wholesaled must have
made it an extremely useful article for the retailer, and the
public who have bought the enormous quantities imported
have also obtained the maximum of nourishment at minimum
prices.

With the coming of the Argentine chilled beef about the
beginning of the nineties, the working of the frozen meat shops
became immediately easier. Never was any development in

the food import trade more welcome ! Though the North
American supplies of refrigerated beef were a necessity to the
meat trade in this country, the suppliers themselves were
unpopular, and it was with great joy that wholesale and retail
meat men in Great Britain saw plentiful quantities of chilled
beef arriving from South America. Chilled beef from the
United States of America is too high hi price for the cheaper
shop to cut, but the retailer is able to sell good joints of
Argentine chilled at moderate prices and work this meat
conveniently with his frozen mutton and lamb trade. It is
stated that frozen beef has come more into favour since the
River Plate has been such a large shipper ; this is probably
owing to the regularity of shipments and steady annual increase
which have marked the exports.

Counting up the Retailers.

A useful conclusion to this chapter will be some figures to
give an idea of the numbers of shops in Great Britain — we may
safely exclude Ireland — at which the meat produced at home,
and on farm, station, and estancia overseas is sold. There
are 24,000 retail butchers in the United Kingdom. Then
there are the stores — there are about 1,500 in the United
Kingdom — and the provision and grocers' shops which also sell
frozen meat, as well as the stalls in streets and markets
and in country towns on market days, and also the humble
coster, who must not be forgotten. Nothing in the shape of
an accurate calculation can be made, but one may suggest that
there are not less than 100,000 establishments in the United
Kingdom at which fresh meat is vended. One has it on the
authority of Mr. Heap, president of the National Federation
of Meat Traders' Associations, that 80 per cent, of imported
meat is sold by firms who sell nothing else. A list of the
multiple shop concerns handling frozen and chilled meat only,
with the number of shops, was prepared for the purposes of this
book, but it was found impossible to ensure anything like
accuracy. Brief allusion to this branch of the subject may,
however, be made in stating that Messrs. James Nelson and
Sons, Ltd., run about 1,500 shops in the United Kingdom ;

REACHING THE CONSUMER

Eastmans, Ltd., about 1,400 ; the River Plate Fresh Meat Co.,
Ltd., over 400; W. and R. Fletcher, Ltd., 417; and the
London Central Meat Co., Ltd., over 500; these being the
largest concerns.

Considering that every town of about 5,000 inhabitants and
upwards has its frozen meat shop or shops, and that there are
the mixed and family shops to account for which handle the
remaining 20 per cent, of imported meat, it cannot be unreason-
able to suggest that there must be at least 20,000 shops, stores,
etc., cutting frozen meat.

To understand how frozen meat has captured the retail meat
trade of England, one has but to study the advertisements in
the Meat Trades Journal. The great majority of the company
shops, as above, are in the populous centres of the north;
but Eastmans' are well distributed over the country ; Messrs.
James Nelson and Sons have about 250 shops in London and
suburbs, and Messrs. Fletchers' are mostly in the Midlands and
South and West of England. It is interesting to note the
turnover of one of the large shop companies' business ; the
figures appear colossal. One learns from particulars recently
published that Messrs. W. and R. Fletcher, Ltd., turned over
£1,482,000 in 1910. Eastmans, Ltd., have cold stores in the
United Kingdom capable of holding 350,000 carcasses of
mutton. The big turnover of the multiple shop owner is done
on a very small margin, sometimes as low as £ per cent., and
the business, to admit of success, demands a keen expert
knowledge of markets and men. Most of the London suburban
retailers sell frozen meat. The restaurants catering for the
rlt r Us supply it to their customers freely.

As the multiple shop 'system has been, and is still more
likely to be, such an important factor in the retailing of frozen
meat, it is interesting before closing this chapter to take a
glance at the development of a concern which was a pioneer in
this branch of the trade. This is Eastmans, Ltd., which was
formed in January, 1889, with a capital of £900,000, to acquire
the cattle and fresh meat business of Messrs. T. C. and Joseph
Eastman, of New York, and Messrs. John Bell and Sons, Ltd., of
London and Glasgow, the latter concern being the multiple

F.M. p

210 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

frozen meat shop pioneer in Great Britain. The first directors
of Eastmans, Ltd., were Lord Greville, Messrs. George Scheibler,
H. Scott Ritchie, Russell Monro, Henry Bell, James Bell, and
James John Thomson, managing director. The business of
Messrs. Bell was started in 1827, and registered in 1888 as a
limited liability company, the whole of the shares being held by
members of the firm and their managers — their turnover from
1878 to 1888 was over £17,000,000. It was in 1879 that Messrs.
Bell began to open up meat shops in Great Britain, and at the
time of the amalgamation they had 330 shops in the British
Isles. In 1900 the whole of the American business was discon-
tinued, and the property sold, and from that time onward
Eastmans, Ltd., have devoted themselves to their shop trade,
in supplement to which they have a wholesale Smithfield con-
nection. The 330 shops in 1889 have now increased to over
1,400; the company have cold store depots at London, Glasgow,
Dublin, Liverpool (two), Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Bristol,
Chatham, and Sheerness, capable of holding 350,000 carcasses
of mutton. Eastmans, Ltd., are very extensive buyers of New
Zealand mutton and lamb, and they handle very considerable
quantities of frozen and chilled beef from all parts of the
world.

References to James Nelson and Sons, the retail meat shops
of which house, scattered up and down Great Britain, form
the great rivals of Eastmans, Ltd., appear on p. 80.

Mention, too, may be made of the part which Messrs. John
Rose and Co. took in the retail distribution of Canterbury
mutton and lamb. In this department of the trade they
ranked as early pioneers (see p. 382).

The Argenta Meat Company, Limited, is an important
undertaking running a number of frozen meat shops in the
north. It has been from its beginning an excellent customer
for the highest grades of New Zealand mutton and lamb, and
its shops are amongst the best class of retail meat establish-
ments, where imported mutton, lamb, and beef are sold. The
company was started by Mr. G. J. Ward and Mr. William
Rushworth, and the first shop was opened in Oldham in 1895.

CHAPTER XV

PROVINCIAL DISTRIBUTION

As the successful marketing of frozen meat depends largely
upon careful handling and efficient and rapid distribution, it
will be well understood that the comparative merits of ports of
destination for frozen meat shipped to Great Britain have
always been the subject of considerable controversy. London,
with its huge population, its pre-eminent railway facilities,
and, generally, its overwhelming importance as compared with
other centres, has always occupied first place as a centre of
distribution for frozen meat. Twenty-one years ago out of a
total import into the United Kingdom of 3,358,823 carcasses of
frozen mutton and lamb, London received 2,389,129 ; eleven
years ago out of 7,094,782 it took 4,770,801 ; and in 1910 it
took 8,572,788 out of a total import for the United Kingdom
of 12,981,044 carcasses. So in 1891 London was credited with
71 per cent, of the total importations, in 1901 with 67 per
cent., and in 1910 with 66 per cent.

If minimum handling were the only consideration in getting
frozen meat to the consumer, it is probable that direct shipment
to the various chief ports round our coast nearest to the
districts of population would be a method difficult to argue
against, and with certain of our large provincial ports this
trade has developed to a very large extent in the last few
years.

Quite early in the frozen meat campaign, in 1886, vessels
from the River Plate were directed to Liverpool, which port
quickly became the chief distributing centre for Argentine
mutton. In 1902 over 2,000,000 carcasses were landed there,
against 412,000 at London, but of late South America has
largely increased her London landings. Argentine meat is

p 2

212 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

landed at Cardiff, Manchester, Bristol, Glasgow, Southampton
Hull, and Newcastle, as well as at Liverpool, but the Mersey
port has been the great distributive headquarters for the
north of England of the importers.

Had Australia and New Zealand — especially Australia — been
able to arrange for the regular despatch of vessels to Liverpool
and other ports in the early days of the trade, no doubt
importers of Australasian meat would have put up a fight
with the Plate companies in those markets. But the Aus-
tralasian shipping services made London their destination,
and refrigerated and other produce from those Colonies has,
in consequence, been despatched to, and largely handled in,
London. In 1892, however, arrangements were made for
Australian and New Zealand mutton and lamb to be con-
signed direct to Liverpool, and from that year to the present
time the " outports " have been used by Australasian shippers.
The volume of business was, however, quite small till 1904,
when the " West Coast " steamer service was started from
New Zealand to Liverpool, Cardiff, Avonmouth, Glasgow, and
Manchester. In 1907 and 1908 about a million carcasses
yearly were shipped direct to those ports from Australia and
New Zealand, and by 1910 the totals had grown to over
2,000,000. According to the statistics published by the London
Central Markets Committee, during the twenty-nine years, 1880
to 1908, 2,123,839 tons of frozen meat have been imported
into Great Britain from Australasia, and of this total 1,533,777
tons, 72' 2 per cent., have passed through Smithfield market.
This percentage is now, however, lessening year by year.
Probably, increasing quantities of Australian meat will be
shipped to the provincial ports, but London will always remain
the most favourable centre for selling New Zealand meat
and the higher grades of frozen mutton and lambs from
South America and Australia.

The question of the comparative advantages in shipping
to the various ports could be discussed at great length,
but as this would be to little purpose here, the discussion need
not be entered upon further than to say that it would seem
that London and Liverpool are fated long to remain the chief

PROVINCIAL DISTRIBUTION

ports for frozen meat ; they possess the population and means
of distributing to an unequalled degree. There is noted in
another part of this book the tendency of River Plate meat
since 1905 to go in increasing proportion to London. Whilst
shippers in New Zealand and Australia have been hankering
after direct shipments to country ports, the Argentine people
have quietly directed more and more of their chilled and
frozen meats to London. London is the market for the
highest quality, especially chilled beef ; so South America
ships most of her chilled beef to Southampton and London,
and mutton tends to follow. The weakness of country
markets lies in the fact that they can be so easily overstocked ;
over and over again importers of frozen meat have found this
out to their cost.

It remains to give some idea of the facilities for frozen meat
possessed by the various leading ports that compete for this
trade. The improved organization of the West Coast service
bringing refrigerated produce from Australasia during the last
few years has put the Liverpool, Cardiff, Manchester, Glasgow,
and Bristol (Avonmouth Docks) markets into more direct
touch with the farmer in New Zealand and Australia. This
service has now been organized in a thorough manner. Route
No. 1, via Suez Canal, is Australia to London, Liverpool,
and Avonmouth ; No. 2, via the Cape, is New Zealand to
Avonmouth, Liverpool, and Glasgow ; and No. 3, via Torres
Straits and Suez Canal, is Queensland ports to Liverpool
and/or London. There are twelve sailings in the year in
each route on the homeward journey. The West Coast ports
have many conveniences, and shippers are taking advantage of
the facilities they offer — non-lightering, handling and railage
saved, cheap harbour and landing charges, etc. But the
merchants in the cities named have failed to grasp that the
frozen meat trade is being, and will in the future increasingly
be, done on the selling forward basis. The days of chance
or open consignment are waning, and if the provision
brokers and merchants at these " out ports " desire to compete
with London, they will probably find out ere long that they
must take up the business in this way.

214 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

Liverpool.

The claims of Liverpool as a meat centre require no support :
it is the second port of the United Kingdom, and its shipping,
cold stores, cattle lairages, markets, and railways comprise a vast
and excellent receiving and distributing system. The leading
lines of foodstuffs brought to Liverpool in twelve months
total about £45,000,000 in value. In 1910, 822,025 quarters
of frozen beef from South America were landed there, while in
1890 only about 5,000 quarters reached the port. In 1910 also,
545,642 chilled quarters from South America were imported,
and 246,728 lamb carcasses from the same source. The lambs
imported into Liverpool from Australia and New Zealand in
1910 numbered 411,132 and 334,341 carcasses respectively,
and mutton carcasses 1,166,174 and 37,003 respectively, while
frozen beef from the Antipodes was imported to the extent
of 186,224 quarters from Australia and 40,683 from New
Zealand.

Liverpool is well provided with cold storage accommodation,
its seventeen stores having a total capacity of more than two
million carcasses of mutton. A glance at the map will show
that eight of these cold stores are situated either at, or
in handy access to, the line of docks for which the port is
famous.

As regards the actual landing facilities for frozen meat at
Liverpool, most of the steamers carrying frozen meat discharge
at the North end of the docks, and this is most suitable for
the consignees of the meat, owing to the close promixity of
the principal cold stores to the Canada, Brocklebank, Langton,
and Alexandra Docks, where unloading usually takes place.
The meat is discharged from the steamer's hold by means
of large canvas slings on to the quay, under a covered shed,
where it is sorted and delivered according to mark. During
the last year or eighteen months a considerable number of
insulated vans have been built by cartage contractors for the
purpose of conveying the meat from the ship's side to cold
stores or railway depot, a distance of only from about half a
mile to a mile. The handling of the meat on the quay is

1'UOYIV IAI. DISTRIBUTION 215

undertaken by the master porter. He, in many instances, is
only a nominee of the steamship companies, which arrange their
own discharge and employ their own men on the quay to
deliver to consignees.

At several — but not all — of the discharging berths allocated
to frozen meat steamers, railway lines have been laid down by
the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board to enable refrigerator
cars to be run alongside for the loading of the meat direct from
the steamer. The meat is discharged on to trucks, and these
are run across the Dock Board's shed to the railway line,
where the meat is then loaded into refrigerator cars. If meat,
however, intended for despatch to provincial markets cannot
be loaded in railway vans alongside the steamer, it is usually
carted in street wagons to the nearest railway depot or cold
store, and loaded up there in ordinary or insulated railway
vans, according to destination.

A few railway rates in force from Liverpool to various
consuming centres will illustrate the Mersey Port's position
in this connection. There is a 2-ton rate of 22s. Qd. per ton,
delivered, to Bradford, Leeds, and Sheffield, and 11s. Sd.
(station to station) to Manchester. The 4- ton (owner's risk
rate) to Glasgow is £1 per ton, while the 5-ton rate, delivered, to
such towns as Newcastle-on-Tyne, North and South Shields,
and Sunderland, is 32«. Qd. per ton. The steamer rate to
Belfast is 15s. and to Dublin 22s. lid. per ton. The railage to
Birmingham is 255. per ton for 3-ton lots.

Manchester.

With the completion and opening in 1894 of the Manchester
Ship Canal, and the erection of cold stores in Manchester and
on the Canal, enthusiastic efforts were made to establish a
direct trade between Australia and that city. A beginning
waa made in 1895, when the sailer Timaru took 16,000 carcasses
from Geelong, Australia, direct to Manchester. The meat was
sold c.i.f. at 2fd. per Ib. to local buyers, and opened out in
splendid condition. However, the River Plate importers, with
the avowed purpose of discouraging further direct imports

216 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

from Australia, lowered their price for mutton to 2\d. and
under — thus causing the Manchester buyers of the Australian
meat to make a heavy loss. Though the claims of Manchester
as a suitable port for the direct import of Australasian frozen
meat have been advanced with great persistency, the prospect
has not been inviting enough to induce the shipper, the shipping
companies, and the mercantile interests in England, to land
Australian or New Zealand meat on the Ship Canal wharves,
except to an insignificant extent.

The Port of Manchester, for port it must be called, with its
Canal facilities, vies with London as a centre of population,
as within a twenty mile radius of " Cottonopolis " there
is a population of nearly eight millions. This centre, too, has
special cold storage equipment which is worthy of note.
On the Ship Canal is a large refrigerated transit chamber, for
the sorting of frozen meat and produce before delivery to
railway wagons or carts. This chamber has a capacity of
85,500 cubic feet, and is certainly an excellent provision, con-
stituting that feature of cold storage equipment which has
been advocated far and wide by those who study the ideal
method of handling big lines of frozen produce imports.

There are also at Manchester good facilities for storing frozen
produce. At Weaste, on the Ship Canal, there is the large
store of the Colonial Consignment and Distributing Co., now
leased and managed by the Union Cold Storage Co. Its
capacity is 175,000 carcasses, and alongside large steamers can
be berthed and discharged. The Union Co. also has cold stores
in Miller Street, Manchester, with a capacity of 80,000 car-
casses ; the Manchester Corporation has within easy cartage dis-
tance from the docks cold storage accommodation for 150,000
carcasses of sheep alongside its extensive market and abattoirs.
The Corporation abattoirs and meat market, together with their
cold store, are second only to Smithfield, London, and the daily
hanging of meat is greater than in any market in the Kingdom
excepting Smithfield. The municipal cold store is situated
conveniently for the various markets of the city. At the
Foreign Animals Wharf and Lairages at the Manchester Docks
there is accommodation for 1,850 cattle and 1,500 sheep, with

PROVINCIAL DISTRIBUTION 217

room for extension. The weekly supply of cattle at these lairages
from Canadian and North American ports brings butchers from
the suburbs of Manchester, who in addition to purchasing
fresh beef also obtain their supplies of frozen mutton and
lambs, and thus avoid going to Liverpool and Birkenhead.

The Ship Canal Co.'s efficient system of railway lines all
round its quays is in direct communication with all the
principal railways, and the Canal Co. takes charge of and
ards produce at inclusive through rates.

Cardiff.

This leading port and distributing centre on the Bristol
Channel has been closely identified with the frozen meat trade
for many years, and although direct shipments from Austral-
asia by the West Coast service are not as numerous as the
advantages offered by the port and district seem to suggest
they might be, the Argentine shippers take care in distributing
their meat to send a large quantity to Cardiff. The first
shipment of frozen meat landed in the Bristol Channel reached
Cardiff about 1889. It was shipped by the River Plate Fresh
Meat Company.

In 1910 Cardiff came next in importance to Liverpool and
London amongst the nine ports in the United Kingdom to which
South American meat was despatched. As to the various
facilities for receiving and handling frozen meat, Cardiff is well
to the fore. Its docks are excellent, and railways run along-
side. Cold storage space is ample, Cardiff itself possessing,
as is shown in Appendix V., about half a million carcasses
capacity, an accommodation about to be added to by the
Cardiff Railway Co., which has decided to spend £40,000 on
another store at the docks. Cardiff, the chief of the three
fine ports on the seaboard of the Bristol Channel — Cardiff,
Swansea, and Newport — is likely to have a brilliant future as
a centre for the distribution of frozen meat and other
refrigerated produce, especially if it can hold its own against
A\onmouth — its aggressive corporation-owned rival farther up
the Channel. A considerable business has been done in the city
and district of Cardiff in frozen meat. In Cardiff alone there

218 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

are about 200 shops dealing exclusively with this article, and
one firm of importers, Messrs. H. Woodley and Co., who run a
number of retail meat establishments, may be mentioned as
being identified with the trade from the eighties to the present
time. There is a call for an immense quantity of frozen meat,
as well as rabbits and butter, in the Cardiff district, and regular
direct shipments would expand the trade.

The Cardiff district includes the densely populated coalfields
of South Wales, which are, as far as provisions are concerned,
absolutely non-producing. Barry is included in the port of
Cardiff, and has large up-to-date cold stores alongside the
dock ; Newport, twelve miles off, also has large cold stores
close to the railway stations. In both of these towns the public
cold stores are owned by the Cardiff Pure Ice and Cold Storage
Co., Ltd., which has very extensive refrigerated accommoda-
tion, consisting of 394,000 carcasses in Cardiff, 100,000 in
Barry, and 41,482 in Newport. The managers, Messrs. Neale
and West, have been associated with the development of the
direct imports of Argentine and Australasian frozen meat ever
since these began, over twenty years ago. Cardiff is a fine
centre for the distribution of refrigerated provisions of all
sorts, and Australasian exports of this character might with
advantage be sent direct to that port to a greater extent than
is now the case.

Bristol.

Bristol, at the Avonmouth Docks, has provided considerable
up-to-date facilities for the import of frozen meat. Its first
supply of cold storage was, as a matter of fact, to accom-
modate the Canadian provision trade, for which a small
store was erected in 1896. It was in 1904 that the
Federal-Houlder-Shire boats began to call at Bristol and
land some of their New Zealand frozen mutton and lamb
at Avonmouth ; and as the trade proved too large for the
existing store another of similar capacity was provided by
insulating a portion of the upper floor of a transit shed on the
west side of the Dock. In 1907 the importation of frozen meat

PROVINCIAL DISTRIBUTION 219

into Avonmouth began from Australia, and direct shipments
from the River Plate in 1011 have helped to make the Bristol
Docks Committee decide upon doubling its cold storage
accommodation .

The method of discharge of frozen meat at Avonmouth is as
follows. The meat is lifted direct from the hold of the
vessel and delivered into the reception air-locked chambers,
six of which serve the cold store. These air locks are
not much used for sorting purposes ; the meat in the
majority of cases as it comes from the steamer is sorted as
it passes through the small door in the end of the store. The
air locks are useful, however, for sorting purposes if the stores
are crowded, and in addition it is possible in cold weather to
make use of the air locks as a storage chamber. The cold
store itself is alongside the steamer's berth, so that exposure of
the meat between the ship's hold and the cold store is reduced
to a minimum by the method of working referred to. Deliveries
from cold store are made by shutes direct into refrigerator
railway cars, which are loaded under cover.

Glasgow.

The imports of frozen meat at the port of Glasgow during
1911 showed considerable development, and the prospects at
this " outport " for shippers in the Southern Hemisphere are
quite favourable. It is true that quantities of frozen meat
landed at Glasgow prior to and during 1910 were inconsider-
able, but the shipping facilities were limited. Glasgow is the
centre of the Scotch meat trade ; it has a convenient whole-
sale dead meat market, and a large quantity of Irish meat is
handled there. Cold stores and landing and discharging
arrangements are available for carrying on the imported
frozen and chilled meat trade, a considerable increase in \vhirh
—especially from Australasia — may be anticipated. (The
discharging facilities, by the way, would bear improvement.)
Appendix V. shows Glasgow to possess cold storage accommo-
dation equal to 605,000 carcasses, of which more than half is
at the stores of Messrs. William Milne, Ltd. (350,000), and

220 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

150,000 at the stores of the Union Cold Storage Co. Scotland
has, until recent years, been very backward in taking to
frozen meats ; considering the production of the excellent
beef and mutton which the graziers of North Britain supply
to the markets, this is not surprising. But the Scotch people
in the cities and towns are now becoming customers for
frozen meat. The Glasgow market dealt with New Zealand
boneless beef for collops until this trade was practically
stopped by the Public Health Acts referred to at page 122,
but a promising factor in the development of direct shipments
to this port is the fact that Glasgow has excellent facilities
for absorbing large quantities of frozen beef of good secondary
grade to take the place of the said boneless beef, which, in large
quantities, was formerly placed — mainly by the North American
shippers — on the Glasgow market.

Hull.

Hull as a produce centre has aspirations far beyond the
position it holds as a receiving port for the European ship-
ments of eggs, poultry, game, butter, etc., coming to England.
It is anxious for more frozen meat imports, stating that owing
to its railway distributing facilities it is one of the cheapest
centres of distribution for one quarter of the population of the
United Kingdom inhabiting about a fifth of its area. This is a
big claim, and as yet frozen meat does not bulk largely among
Hull's imports. The Humber port possesses four cold stores,
one, of 54,000 carcasses capacity, leased by the Compania
Sansinena, and situated at the Alexandra Dock ; a town cold
store, of 40,000 carcasses capacity, owned by the Union Cold
Storage Co., Ltd. ; another store run by the same company is
in the Sir William Wright Dock, of 200,000 carcasses capacity,
and one at the Alexandra Dock, of 50,000 carcasses capacity,
also belongs to the Union Cold Storage Co. Frozen and chilled
meat is brought from the Argentine for the Sansinena Co. by the
Houlder liners, and for the River Plate Fresh Meat Co. by the
Royal Mail Steam Packet Co.'s vessels. The Federal-Houlder-
Shire Line now books refrigerated cargo from Australia to Hull

PROVINCIAL DISTRIBUTION 221

under direct bill of lading, certain boats in that service making
Hull a port of call. The completion of the Hull Joint Dock,
which will be owned shortly by the Hull and Barnsley and
North Eastern Railway Cos., will give Hull the largest dock
in the world, as its water area is to be 86 acres.

The Country Trade : General Observations.

In addition to the frozen meat shipments going direct to the
" outports," considerable quantities landed by steamer in
London are railed direct to the great marketing centres,
where there are ample storage and sale facilities. Meat so
railed from London docks or store goes, as a rule, right to the
retailer, the goods which are stored in the provincial ports
usually being meat shipped direct to those ports. All classes
of frozen meats are more or less saleable in the Provinces,
although particular descriptions are required for particular
districts. Generally speaking, the country trade calls for
lighter weight carcasses of mutton and lamb and quarters of
beef than that required by London buyers. But fat carcasses
find favour in agricultural districts.

Practically the whole of England is carefully worked by
commercial travellers on behalf of the great distributing houses.
If any Australians or New Zealanders think, because the great
bulk of their meat is landed at London, that the forty millions
of people outside London are neglected, they fall into a deplor-
able error. The whole of England, much of Scotland, and all
Wales — Ireland has yet to be converted — have been opened
up to frozen meat (see the information given in the preceding
chapter). The country trade was first tapped by the dis-
tributing firms handling Australasian meat — Nelson Brothers,
Borthwick's, etc. — before the Argentine meat was good enough
for the country trade. Depots were opened at places like
Plymouth and Middlesbrough, which experience has since
shown were not good distributing centres. The retailers, then,
in the country are supplied by the distributing firms in London,
per railway, or they get their frozen meat from Liverpool,
Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Hull, or other ports to which it has

222 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

been conveyed by steamer. Provincial operators are closely
in touch with the metropolitan market, and wholesale values
in London and country are practically the same. Railway
rates for frozen meat from London to the various centres
depend to some extent upon the quantities forwarded. The
rates on 3-ton lots are as follow : to Cardiff, 25s. ; Bristol,
20s. ; Liverpool, 25s. ; Glasgow, 53s. 4d. under 20 tons, and
45s. over 20 tons. For England %d. per Ib. covers this item,
roughly speaking ; for Scotland, \d. per Ib.

By firms owning numerous retail shops very large quantities
of frozen meat are distributed without passing through the
open markets, and this may be said generally of all kinds of
frozen meat handled in English country parts. The Argentine
people, who exploited the provinces from Liverpool as their
headquarters twenty-five years ago, were until recently much
more at home there than the firms distributing Australasian
meat. The former have their offices, wholesale and retail, on
the spot, their arrangements are cut and dried, and there is a
regular all-the-year-round demand. Country markets are very
easily over-supplied and cannot absorb (as can Smithfield)
unlimited quantities of meat, even at low prices. All classes
and qualities of meat are distributed throughout the country ;
London and the South Coast take the highest quality. Price
lists are issued weekly by the Colonial Consignment and Distri-
buting Co., Ltd., Thomas Borthwick and Sons, Ltd., W. and R.
Fletcher, Ltd., Towers and Co., Ltd., and others. These houses
issue pamphlets, leaflets, and illustrated circulars, got up in a
very attractive style.

Turning to the question of direct shipments from the
Southern Hemisphere, this notice of the country trade may be
concluded with a few lines giving a sketchy idea of the
characteristics of the various centres, from the point of view
of the importer of Australasian frozen meat, more on general
lines than the specific information contained in the articles
above. Liverpool, by far the most important of the " outports,"
the only port and trade centre which offers any serious rivalry to
London, has largely increased its importance as a frozen meat
port and centre during the last few years. It distributes

PROVINCIAL DISTRIBUTION

throughout the Midlands, well across to the East Coast, and
as far North-East as Newcastle. The sphere of influence
of Liverpool, however, in the direction of the East Coast is
being checked by Hull, at which fine port large cold stores
have been erected, and to which city South American direct
shipments of meat are sent. When the new dock referred
to above is completed, Liverpool's claim to be the distributing
centre for the North of England may be further disputed. In
the Liverpool trade lean, small carcasses are preferred, distinctly
interior — from a Londoner's point of view — to the quality
handled in the London market. This may arise from the
fact that a large proportion of the population are operatives in
ironworks, cotton mills, and other factories, where the tempera-
ture is high, and, as usual in hot climates, the consumer has
no appetite for fat meat. Manchester has been a bit of a
disappointment to frozen meat people. The Ship Canal was to
have been a highway for argosies laden with the refrigerated
produce of New Zealand and Australia, but some error was
made in these sanguine anticipations, for Cottonopolis imported
direct in 1910 only Australian lambs ; a bubble burst, indeed,
when one remembers the efforts made years ago to attract
direct shipments to Manchester. But although Manchester
receives a certain quantity of meat shipped to that port, the
shipowner largely takes advantage of the option in his bill of
lading, and elects to rail to Manchester a portion of his cargo
of meat from Liverpool in preference to the expense of
sending his vessel up the Canal. Cardiff is a large consumer
of frozen produce, and a very satisfactory and growing trade is
done in that district. The Argentine companies have been
shipping to Cardiff for many years, and do a considerable
business there. Owing to the West Coast service calling at
Avonmouth (Bristol), few direct shipments of frozen meat from
Australia or New Zealand are now being sent to the Welsh port,
which is a pity, as Cardiff possesses all the points which suggest
an admirable port and centre for the reception and distribution
of Australasian frozen meat and is the centre of a big meat
consuming population, amongst whom retail distribution has
become well organized. Bristol has not in itself been a very

224 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

satisfactory market for direct importations. The trade done
there is of a healthy description as far as it goes, but demand
has not responded to the direct West Coast service shipments
on the scale that might have been expected from a city and
district with such a large population. Much of the meat
landed at Bristol is forwarded by rail to Cardiff for distri-
bution— an unbusinesslike course forced upon shippers by the
lack of direct freight to the Welsh port. Glasgow is a useful
market for some special grades of beef and for New Zealand
lambs of good quality, especially hi the earlier part of the
season before Scotch lambs have matured fit for the market ;
and a steadily increasing demand may be hoped for from the
Clyde port as frozen meat becomes more popular in the cities
of Scotland. Glasgow has not had a fair chance of developing
into such a frozen meat centre as the importance of the city
and its situation entitle it to, owing to the service of refrigerated
vessels being very limited. For some reason no South American
frozen meat was despatched direct to Glasgow in 1910. Glasgow
is the most likely " outport " to increase during the next
few years in the handling of direct-despatched shipments of
frozen meat.

What has been the effect of these " outport" markets upon
general values ? An answer is ready, covering part of the
subject, in stating that the premium which, before the days of
direct imports, frozen meat — railed from London— enjoyed in
the provincial centres has disappeared. Prior to the establish-
ment of the West Coast service, the London importing houses
in supplying their country customers were careful to make a
good selection of meat that would stand the railway journey
and which would meet their clients' requirements in every
way, and for frozen meat thus placed upon provincial markets
a premium of about Id. per stone of 8 Ibs., especially for
New Zealand mutton and lamb, over the London ruling rates,
plus carriage, was usually obtainable. As competition became
pronounced, say, about 1903, 1904, and 1905, and vessels landed
meat at the ports of the West Coast, supplies of frozen meats
became obtainable at these ports at the London rates, and
now mutton and lamb from South America and Australasia in

IM{0\IN(I\I. hl-TIUH! TI<>\

London and provincial markets practically have the same
value.

As direct despatch of frozen meat from Australia and New
Zealand to the ports of the United Kingdom, following the
example sot by the Argentine shippers in dividing their con-
signments between London and country, became possible in
1903, the " opening up " of the " outports " in the Australasian
interest was a matter of course. There was a great quantity
of meat to be despatched to Great Britain, and the farmers and
meat works managers, in taking advantage of the opportunity to
divide their goods between London and provincial ports, adhered
to the principle of wide distribution throughout their marketing
area. It is probable that the aggregate output of Australasian
frozen meat has during the last eight years expanded with less
falling of values to the producers by reason of the development
of direct supplies to the " outports " than would have been the
case had all the meat been consigned to London — which would
have staggered had it been made to bear the whole burden of
imports, notwithstanding its splendid distributing facilities.
There are, however, well recognized limits of usefulness to
oversea shippers in the "outport" markets; these country
centres tend to become competitive, and their capacity for
dealing with large quantities of meat has nothing of the
expansiveness and elasticity which constitute London's great
attractiveness. There is also to be considered that there is a
tendency at the " outports " for the demand to be more or
less for only one grade of any kind of meat. For instance, at
Bristol light lambs are preferred, at Liverpool secondary
lambs, while at Glasgow the market is chiefly for medium
weight lambs. Bristol and Liverpool both ask for very light
mutton, while Glasgow, on the contrary, requires heavy
mutton. Of late years there have been occasions when these
markets in the provinces have become congested, with the
result that mutton and lamb — South American particularly —
sold under London values.

F.M.

CHAPTER XVI

CUSTOMERS IN OTHER LANDS

WHEN Mr. Mort in his Lithgow Valley speech heralded the
era of frozen meat exports, he had in view the markets of
England, and those only. For the first few years of the
business there were no efforts made by the exporters of
Australia and New Zealand to ship frozen meat to other
parts than the Mother Country, and they centred their energies
upon popularizing their mutton and beef with the English
people. Indeed, to the present day New Zealand does practi-
cally no " foreign " trade in frozen meat. It was not so,
however, with the Argentine meat exporters, who, owing to
the greater suitability of their produce for Continental needs,
early devoted themselves to pushing their goods in European
countries. In many ways Argentina took up and prosecuted
the frozen meat trade on broader lines than did Austral-
asia. Her grasp of the general position and prospects of
the enterprise was thorough and intelligent, and quite early
in the trade's developments the Argentine companies perceived
that frozen meat was an article whose possibilities of distribu-
tion were world- wide. Whilst Argentina adhered to the
business principle " not to put all your eggs into one basket,"
Australasia was doggedly pounding away at her one market,
London, which, of course, showed a marked preference for
New Zealand and Australian meat as compared with Argentine
in the early days of the trade.

Attempts on the Continent.

Belgium. — The first signs of departure from this principle
were, perhaps, to be noted in the despatch to Antwerp in 1885
by Messrs. Nelson Brothers of the hulk (alluded to on p. 378)
which they had sent to Plymouth with 10,000 carcasses. The
craft was loaded with meat for a Belgian syndicate which had

CUSTOMERS IN OTHER LANDB

takon up very thoroughly the idea of importing frozen meat.
I'.'-Li IM company had gone into the question deeply, they
had shops in Antwerp, Brussels, Liege, and other Belgian towns,
appointed agents, and advertised the meat well. For a time
the sales were satisfactory, but after a while I lie drinaiitl died
away. The people did not take kindly to the meat, and finally
the hulk had to bring back the unsold carcasses. The
Belgians insisted on the carcasses bearing the lungs, which
were frozen in New Zealand. To inaugurate this departure,
Nelson Brothers entertained the Belgian Burgomasters on
frozen mutton at Cannon Street Hotel when Mr. de Keyser
was Lord Mayor. The freezing hulk did not cease her con-
nection with the frozen meat trade with her double failure at
Plymouth and Antwerp. She was sent to New Zealand to
act as temporary freezing works, and is now, after fifty years
of stout service, still afloat.

The "battlefield of Europe " has always looked a likely
customer for frozen meat, as she is a heavy importer of meat.
Belgium, as mentioned above, first attracted shipments of
New Zealand meat, and Argentina followed up this trade
in a determined fashion. A small duty, available storage,
and energetic local butchering co-operation, were more than
merchants handling frozen meat could resist. A Brussels
butcher made £40,000 in five years dealing in foreign meat
in his two shops. Messrs. Jules Renard and Co., of Antwerp
and Melbourne, acting for Australian meat houses, endeavoured
to get frozen meat into Belgium, but the " Lung Law," under
which no meat could be imported into Belgium without the
lung adhering to the carcass, proved a stumbling block. This
statute was repealed in 1894 as to sheep, but it is still in force
with cattle. In 1904 the Sansinena Co. made another effort
to open the Continent to refrigerated meat supplies. In
connection with the company's tallow business in Belgium,
the idea of forming a separate company for the importation
of frozen meat was entertained. Two shipments of meat
were made to Antwerp, the beef having to be sent in sides.
The result of the shipments was unsatisfactory, and no
established business followed.

Q 2

228 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE,

France. — In 1886 the New Zealand Loan Co. tried Paris with
one or two small parcels ; however, we hear of no satisfactory
business following. Probably the expenses of the venture
checked further trials — the costs from discharge in London to
selling in Paris came to 2|d. per Ib. Nothing more as regards
Australasia seems to have been done till early in the nineties,
when the shippers of Queensland beef — the graziers were then
taking the market risks themselves — began discussing with
their London agents the advisability of looking for " extra
outlets."

The River Plate Fresh Meat Co. had a depot of its own in
Paris nearly twenty years ago, starting its business there early
in 1892, but giving up its cold store there in 1893. The company,
in the search for a fresh outlet, went to the expense of fitting
up a special store and sent two boats into Havre. They found
it very unremunerative, for after they had spent their money
and made all arrangements, the French Government put a
lot of restrictions in the way, and they were compelled to give
it up. One of the principal restrictions was that the lungs,
heart, etc., had to remain hi the carcass, which had to be cut
up into four separate quarters — that prevails now, and, of
course, is prohibitive. This regulation, which was added to
the tariff law of 1892 at the request of the agrarians, is
applied to all imported meat except Algerian. But a trade is
regularly done in legs of mutton and rumps of beef with Parisian
salesmen — which meat, by special regulation, eludes the Act,
which expressly states that no frozen meat is to be imported
into France without the animal organs. The River Plate Co.
chartered an old hulk, the Robert Morrison, when they put up
their store in Paris, discharging into the hulk from their ocean
steamers. The hulk, in fact, was a bonded store for the time
being, and the company had to send over butchers to cut up
the carcasses.

The position of France differs from that of Germany in this
important way : the latter country has a deficiency in food
supplies for the nation, whereas France grows food enough.
But notwithstanding this, France at an early date attracted
frozen meat imports. The efforts of the Sansinena Co. are

n>TMM].;n< IN OTIII :u LAND-

referred to on p. 82 ; and this firm, which opened depots in
three French cities, did a considerable trade in connection with
them until the agriculturists, taking fright, brought pressure
to bear upon the Government to raise the import duty from
3 to 12 centimes per kilo., and in 1891 to 33 centimes, which,
with the octroi, 12 centimes, brought up the total import duty
to about 2d. a Ib. Still the Argentine-Franco meat trade
continued, and in 1891 100,000 Argentine carcasses of mutton
were imported, while in 1896 over that number were sent to
France. But by 1900 the record was a sorry one, the trade
having dwindled to one of 4,000 carcasses. The regulations
as to frozen meat imported into France having to be accom-
panied by the organs of the animals were really protection
in disguise.

Why should the Parisians have to eat over 50,000 horses a
year ? They could have, if they liked, at less than the cost of
this unnutritious meat, good beef and mutton from Australasia
and South America. But for harassing regulations and biting
tariffs frozen meat could well hold its own when shipped direct
from the country of production. Meat can be produced in
South America and Australasia at a lower cost than in any
country of the world. In this connection there may be given
the following quotation from an article in Cold Storage of
March 19, 1908, by Mr. P. B. Proctor : "A rough average of
the c.i.f. value of Argentine or Australian meat would be
about :\'f. per Ik. and it is sufficient to point out that on this
figure the Italian duty amounts to about 36 per cent., the
French duty to about 43 per cent., and the German duty to
about 62 per cent, ad valorem."

Germany. — The early nineties were a period of seething
activity in the frozen meat trade. Meat came along in great
l)u Ik, beyond the capacity of London to deal with it, and
the frozen meat firms put out feelers in the countries of
Europe to see what could be done there. Germany was the
goal striven for ; the industrial movement there, at that time
t. iking definite form, encouraged America and Australasia in
the idea that the standard of living in Germany would be raised
in the direction of an increased consumption of animal food.

230 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

But the great Agrarian Party became alarmed, and immediately
set up the agitation which resulted in the passing in 1903
of the meat " inspection " law, more correctly termed the
" meat exclusion " law. German imports of fresh beef from
neighbouring countries (Denmark and Holland) in 1899
showed a 400 per cent, increase as compared with 1897 ; cattle
of all kinds, on the other hand, fell off from 307,000 to 268,000.
The agrarians in Germany possessed enormous power and
thus they succeeded in securing the " protection " they
clamoured for. The United States of America meat packers,
who shipped 350,000 cwts. of preserved meats to Germany in
1899, protested vigorously against the measure that prohibited
the entry of their goods, but without success. So the conditions
were not propitious in 1892 — 1893 for introducing frozen beef
into Germany.

Still, something had to be done, for Queensland beef was
arriving in London at the rate of 1,500 tons a month. Hamburg
was attacked at the end of 1892 by Messrs. W. Weddel and Co.,
with the object of distributing the Queensland beef through
North Germany, the import duty being \d. per Ib. Satis-
factory arrangements as to storage in Hamburg having been
made, a bold step was taken in 1893 in despatching direct to
that port from Townsville, Queensland, the sailing freezer
Turakina with 300 tons of frozen beef. The venture began
auspiciously, but in the end proved a disaster to the German
owners of this meat, owing to the opposition raised by the
butchers throughout the country, though the meat was of
excellent quality when landed and the whole enterprise well
managed. As a matter of fact, the opening of separate shops
for the sale of frozen meat was one great mistake commonly
made in foreign countries. The sale of the meat in existing
establishments would have been far less likely to arouse the
antagonism of the Continental butchers. These might have
been encouraged to secure profits out of the trade from the
outset in their own shops, though, of course, import duties
were always calculated to afford frozen meat a smaller margin
of profit as compared with home-killed than was the case at
the start of the trade in England.

( I>T<>MLKS IN in HI.K LANDS

Before this the General Steam Navigation Co. insulated one
of their steamers for Messrs. Weddel, in order to convey frozen
beef from London to Hamburg. The market price for the
beef in that city was 3|d. per Ib. for prime quality meat.
Mr. H. Kirsten was responsible for this enterprise, and shops
were opened at Hamburg specially for the sale of frozen beef,

Hohe Bloichen 36/37

and tho public at first thronged them, the police being actually
employed to regulate tho crowds. But the trade flagged,
both wholesale and retail, the meat hung on hand, and this,
coupled with the poor financial returns, forced the relinquish-
incnt of a promising enterprise, which had meant the shipment
of about 1,500 tons of beef. The above facsimile reproduc-
tion of the price list of one of the frozen meat shops opened
at Hamburg in 1893 may stand as a rctnindt T of this premature
effort to place frozen meat before the Germans.

A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

No country seems in a better position statistically for frozen
meat exploitation than Germany. Of late years her meat
supplies have been heavily depleted, and the working classes
in 1905 raised considerable outcry about high prices for food,
all the sections of the industrial life of the nation support-
ing the demand for modification of the regulations dealing
with meat imports. The answer on the part of the Govern-
ment— impelled by the agrarians — was a new tariff wall
higher by 50 to 70 per cent. ! The temper of the German
Government affords no hope of relaxation, but the General
Election of 1912 may ultimately result favourably for those
Germans who desire to see a more generous diet placed before
the people. The meat consumption of the German working
man is small compared with that of his rival in Britain, and in
order that the splendid country of Germany may benefit fully
by the output of her sons engaged in her vast industrial
activities it will be necessary to permit of the import of fresh
meats under reasonable conditions.

Austria. — Part of the Turakina's previously mentioned
meat cargo was despatched to Vienna by Messrs. Weddel, and
there again the opposition of the butchers had to be reckoned
with. Considerable pomp attended the first arrival of Queens-
land beef in the Austrian capital, as will be seen from the
following extract from the Wiener Tageblatt of June 24, 1893.

A large consignment of meat has just come to hand at a time when the supply
of meat from Vienna threatens to fall short on account of the scarcity of cattle in
the monarchy. The shipment comprises 1,600 Australian oxen preserved in ice
from the effects of temperature. To-day the first wagon is due at Vienna, and
others will follow on. The meat will be sold next Tuesday in the places of the
Society of Victuallers at the Central Market, and also in the district markets. The
price is 60 kreuzers for first quality of hinds and 50 kreuzers for first quality of
fores, but it is anticipated that prices will fall whenever the contractors organize
the sale in the market places on their own account. The Court Counsellor Oser
said that so that there might be no doubt about the good condition of the Austra-
lian meat, he had ordered the Court Counsellor Professor and Dr. M. Grlibe to inspect
the meat and report as to its nourishing properties. Afterwards these gentlemen
visited the Mayor, at the Town Hall, to obtain his consent and support with regard
to the sale of the Australian meat in Vienna. The Mayor replied that he had some
knowledge of Australian meat, having eaten it and fouud it very good and
appetising. He also stated that he would do his utmost to introduce the meat to
the public.

Both at Hamburg and Vienna municipal assistance was
forthcoming. But the opposition of local interests and improv-
ing prices in London checked the business. The Argentine

( rsTOMERS IN OTHER LANDS

shippers took advantage of the situation to despatch a train-
load of frozen meat from Antwerp, but its entry into Austria
was prohibited, and the country remained closed to frozen meat
until the recent shipments from Argentina which followed the
inquiry set on foot in 1910 and the visit of an Austrian
delegation to Great Britain.

Other European Countries.

Before going farther afield, let us glance at the remaining
European States to which frozen meat has been sent. Race
feeling naturally tempted Argentina to exploit the land of her
fathers, though, sad to say, proud Spain did not for a long
time respond in proper parental style. A company was formed
in Madrid some years ago to sell Argentine meat in the city,
and a shipment was despatched. As the business collapsed,
it is fair to suppose that either the demand was disappointing
or that other difficulties prevailed. It does not appear that
Australian meat was ever imported into Spain, though the
formation of a butchers' syndicate at Barcelona for the purpose
of such a trade would make it seem that Spain is at last ripe
for a frozen meat venture of some kind.

Italy welcomed refrigerated meat in 1905 with small samples
from North and South America, sent to the Magazzini Frigori-
feri Genovesi's modern stores at Genoa. In 1906 the purchases
and total imports were 1,300 tons, of which 300 tons of Queens-
land beef and mutton arrived by the Indraghiri, and 200 tons
of Argentine beef by the Zero from the River Plate Co. Signor
Fausto Scerno, the founder of the stores, wrote as follows :
" We commenced better than England, where, in 1875, the
total import was about 800 tons. In 1907 we imported about
1,000 tons ; low figures, if you compare them with the grand
total of 517,000 tons imported into England, but quite enough
to prove that business in Italy has started much better and
earlier than in France and Germany." Two experimental
parcels were landed at Naples in 1907 from Australia. In 1910
the imports from all sources aggregated nearly 3,000 tons.

A market for frozen meat appeared four years ago in Sweden.
A Stockholm merchant imported, and still imports, from

234 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

London small quantities of Australian mutton and lamb
regularly. Switzerland, each of whose Cantons, by the way,
has its own import regulations, is pretty bare of meat in the
tourist seasons, and some of the frozen meat sent to Genoa finds
its way to Zurich. Mr. Coghlan, Agent-General for New South
Wales in London, worked hard in 1908-1909 to secure entry
for Australian meat into the Swiss Republic, and got the
British Foreign Office to intervene. The Central Government
was impressed, but from the following information from the
Argentine Consul, indicative of the present position, it would
seem that the impression did not sink deeply. " The importa-
tion of meat preserved by an artificial freezing process will
only be allowed on the special authority of the Federal Home
Office, request for which will be necessary to be made by the
Cantonal Government. This meat will only be able to be
sold on a clear understanding as to its nature and origin and
complying with the conditions stipulated in the Home Office
Authority with the view of protecting the health of the con-
sumers." Nevertheless, small parcels of Australian and
Argentine beef are now going into Switzerland regularly
through London.

How great the prize of new custom must be when it is won
is patent to everyone, but how great the need is for the
diversion of heavy supplies from existing markets, only those in
touch with the frozen meat markets can tell. The situation
in Europe was never so promising as at present, but much has
yet to be done before a trade of big dimensions is opened out.

Were it possible to get a footing for frozen meat in the fair
land of France, or in Germany, what a godsend it would be for
Argentina and Australia, with their surpluses of stock ! But
the main outstanding fact that these countries manage
to supply themselves from internal resources is a sufficient
reason for anticipating the greatest possible difficulty in
introducing frozen meats into these markets, because it is
certain that if, by reason of lower prices, shippers could compete
with the local supplies, duties would be promptly raised so as
to stop such importation. We are face to face there with the
radical and permanent difficulty which it is as well to recognize.

CUSTOMERS IN OTHER LANDS '2 :l.r>

Although Franco and Germany arc coupled in this paragraph,
a marked distinction must be made between them. Germany
is really the less able to feed itself now, and imports con-
siderably live cattle from surrounding countries, including
France, at times. France is the more self-reliant country.

When diplomacy induces these European protectionist
countries to refrain from directly prohibiting frozen meats
from Australasia or South America, or advancing the duties
to a point which would stop imports, they can easily pass
regulations, nominally to protect the public, which achieve
the end that the interests opposed to meat imports have in
view quite as effectually as if the goods were barred by statute.
On this point, there may be quoted the opinion of the late
Mr. William Cook, who had very considerable experience in
trying to persuade the Continentals to take Argentine meat.
" Going to France was a mistake," said he. " So inveterate
is the protective policy of the Continentals that if the import
of frozen mutton and beef cannot be checked by existing
arrangements and ordinary means, other and extraordinary
ones will be resorted to."

An important point to take into consideration is that before
frozen meat can be imported in commercial quantities into
the important European cities, well-equipped cold stores will
have to be built ; there are only enough stores now to accom-
modate a hand-to-mouth trade.

Customers in the East.

From its geographical position the continent of Australia
enjoys a peculiar advantage over its two rivals, New
Zealand and South America, in undertaking to supply the
East with frozen meat. Directly it dawned upon merchants
and freezing works managers that London prices would
certainly fall to very unremunerative levels unless other
markets could be found, they sent commercial travellers in
various directions to get orders. " Farther Ind " was explored
in 1893 by a commissioner, who reported unfavourably. Mr.
John Cooke ten years later had special inquiries made about

236 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

Eastern countries generally, and, as nothing further followed,
presumably no good tidings were brought back. There has
been much vague talk of getting frozen meat into India,
China, and Japan, in all of which countries only the white
population might be hoped for as customers, and their numbers
are limited. The natives, where they are not entirely vegetarian
in diet, are too poor to buy imported meat. It is suggested
that the Indian Government might with advantage import
frozen beef for the Mussulmans so as to save the friction set
up between them and the Hindoos when the former slaughter
cattle for food. The only definite commitment in Eastern
parts was that of the Queensland Meat Export Co. in investing
capital in a local meat and storage company in Singapore,
with premises at the Tanjong Pagar Dock. Though the
enterprise, as far as the Queensland Co. is concerned, has not
brought many shekels to the shareholders, the Singapore
white population must have benefited. "If we get good,
honest, prime-fed Australian beef and mutton instead of the
stringy Calcutta and Bangkok stuff we have to put up with,
the better for everybody in Singapore," wrote the Singapore
Free Press many years ago.

Three years ago Australia's " customers in other lands "
were receiving 40 per cent, of her meat exports, chiefly to
the Philippines, the Cape, and Malta, and this may well
account for the fact that Australia has been at times since
the beginning of the century unable to keep pace with New
Zealand and Argentina in regular shipments to the United
Kingdom.

Wars Stimulate the Trade.

The Australian meat exports to the Philippines, Malta,
Egypt, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, and Singapore, are largely
for the supply of military garrisons. Some proportion of the
total exports go to great maritime junctions, such as Colombo
and various Japanese ports, for the supply of the mail steamers,
and hotels entertaining European visitors. For troops, either
in the field or in garrison, frozen meat has come to be a necessity,
and in no direction has the refrigerator been so fruitful of benefit

CUSTOMERS IN OTHER LANDS

aa to masses of soldiery. Supplied in pre-refrigeration days
u it h the " cattle of the country " in which the military opera-
tions were being conducted, or with preserved foods, moving
jinnies are now provisioned from a convenient base with fresh
frozen beef and mutton, a dietary system enormously to the
benefit of the soldiers, and one much more easy for the com-
missariat to organize by means of contracts made ahead. The
I'.ntish-Boer war in 1901 — 1903 was a sensational epoch in
the history of the frozen meat trade.

Cold Storage in South Africa.

Cold storage in South Africa had, in connection with the
supply of meat to the troops in the Boer war, and the events
that followed, the main impetus towards its present stage of
development. A concise statement has been made in the
Pastoraliste' Review by Mr. R. H. Harrowell as to the growth
of public cold storage in South Africa. Cold storage,
this writer says, was first introduced into South Africa by the
old Dutch firm of Combrinck & Co., who established plants at
Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Durban, Pietermaritzburg, Pretoria,
and Bloemfontein. This firm was floated, about the year 1898,
into the South African Supply and Cold Storage Co., Ltd.,
which, in the capacity of meat contractor to the British Army
during the early stages of the late Boer War, accumulated a
reserve fund of £1,000,000, after paying big dividends. The late
Cecil Rhodes, with the assistance of the Johannesburg mining
houses, formed the Imperial Cold Storage Co., Ltd., with plants
at Cape Town, Kimberley, and Johannesburg. The new
company was successful in taking away the military contract
from the company, but worked it at a loss of about
£350,000 per annum. The main source of profit being thus
lost to the South African Supply and Cold Storage Co., it was
determined to float another company and transfer to the new
concern a portion of the assets of the old one.

In 1901 the South African and Australasian Supply and Cold
Storage Co. was formed, taking over the business of the South
African Supply and Cold Storage Co. at Cape Town, Pretoria,

238 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

and Bloemfontein, and the remainder of the assets, comprising
shares in the companies at Port Elizabeth, Durban, and
Pietermaritzburg, were taken over by the Cold Storage Trust.

The Cold Storage Trust, Ltd., has its registered office in
London, but is practically controlled and directed by interests
in Cape Town. This company controls the following subsidiary
undertakings : — Port Elizabeth Cold Storage and Supply Co.,
Ltd., Pietermaritzburg Cold Storage and Supply Co., Ltd.,
Sparks and Young, Durban and Johannesburg, and has some
interest in the Rand Cold Storage and Supply Co., Ltd.

On the conclusion of the war in 1902 the Imperial Cold
Storage Co., Ltd., amalgamated with the South African and
Australasian Supply and Cold Storage Co., and the business
was floated under the name of the Imperial Cold Storage and
Supply Co., Ltd., and a new plant was erected at Durban, and
subsidiary companies were formed at East London and Johan-
nesburg for the same purpose. The capital of the reorganized
company was £1,750,000, in £1 shares, in addition to a 6 per
cent, debenture issue of £500,000. The share capital was
cut down by one-half in 1906, and was further reduced in
1911 to £201,000, at which figure it now stands.

The Imperial Cold Storage and Supply Co., Ltd., with its head
office in Cape Town, has cold storage plants at Cape Town,
Durban, Kimberley, Bloemfontein, and Pretoria, and con-
trols subsidiary undertakings operating at East London and
Johannesburg, trading as the East London Cold Storage
and Supply Co. and the Rand Cold Storage and Supply Co., Ltd.,
respectively.

Professor Wallace's Statement. — Professor Robert Wallace,
who has written a great deal on stock and agricultural questions
relating to British settlement in South and East Africa, writes
to the authors as follows : —

" South and East Africa are essentially stock, and not
agricultural, food producing countries, and when people begin
to realize that European cattle are not suitable for the natural
conditions which prevail in those quarters without such a
liberal supplement to the natural food which would be pro-
hibitive in cost, they will breed animals with constitutions

•CUSTOM i:u> IN OT1II.K LANDS

that \\ill withstand tin- climatic conditions, and produce large
quantities of beef of Beconcl-grade quality and suitable to the
local demand. South and Central Africa is a black man's
country, and the white population is not likely under prospec-
tive conditions to increase at such a rapid rate as would
require a large amount of prime beef. All I can say is, if South
Africa is unable to produce as much meat as the people
require, it will be the farmers' own fault, by allowing the
country to remain unfonced so that epizootic diseases may
continue, as in the past, to ravage the flocks and herds, or by
persisting in the impossible attempt to introduce highly-bred
European cattle under climatic conditions which are inimical
to them."

Manila and Vladivostock.

Australia's export of frozen meat — mainly beef — to Manila
dates from the placing of the American garrison in the Philip-
pines in 1898. Queensland, whence the meat is shipped,
commands this trade on account of her geographical position.
A yearly contract is made between the American military
authorities and the Queensland Meat Export Co., and the other
freezing companies in Queensland take a share in it ; 7 cents
per Ib. gives a rough idea of the price. The 1910 contract was
valued at £12,000; 3,000 carcasses of lamb, 5,000 carcasses of
mutton, and 250,000 Ibs. of beef, plus pork and rabbits, being
supplied. It is understood that the business is cut rather fine,
but the Manila contract has proved useful to the Australian
meat men in providing an avenue for the disposal of a respect-
able quantity of frozen beef during dull years.

The market at Vladivostock came with a rush in 1906, and
in that and the following year over 9,000 tons of Australian
beef found its way to the Siberian port. The negotiations
were first opened in 1898, when a cablegram was received
by the New South Wales Minister of Agriculture asking if
700 tons of frozen beef could be sent to Vladivostock. The
business was mostly negotiated in London by agents of
the Russian Government, and considerable competition

240 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

between suppliers marked its developments. In 1908 the
shipments fell off, owing to the port being supplied from
North China with live cattle, which were slaughtered at Vladi-
vostock and chilled on board three refrigerator steamers.
These Vladivostock contracts were also connected with the
supply of meat for the troops.

The Mediterranean.

An important section of Australian exports of frozen meat,
representing meat supplies for the British garrisons in Egypt,
Malta, and Gibraltar, remains to be touched on.

Messrs. Wills and Co., Ltd., started refrigerating stores at
Port Said early in the nineties, capable of holding 200 tons of
produce ; from the depot the requirements in the way of meat
of the passing mail boats and the small European population
were supplied. At that time the Army contracts at Cairo and
Alexandria were for native mutton at about 4d. per Ib. The
thing to do in Egypt was to secure this Army custom for frozen
meat, and this has now been done. Practically all of the trade
falls to the Australian shippers, and since 1905 Egypt has been
an important buyer.

About 1894 the British Government made up its mind to
feed the garrisons at Gibraltar and Malta upon frozen meat.
They had the necessary cold stores erected in 1895 at those
Mediterranean strategic points, and ever since the military
forces there have had the benefit of the nutritious diet furnished
by beef and mutton grazed on the plains of Australia.
Mr. C. A. Lichtenburg, head of Messrs. Wills and Co., Ltd.,
took an important part in getting frozen meat into Malta,
where it is partly used for the civil population, and his firm
has held the contract since the trade was introduced. Allusion
may be made to the grievance of which frozen meat importers
in Malta rightly complain, namely, the differential import
duties on live cattle and dead meat. These pressed unfairly
on the latter, and the Australian Agents-General have had to
appeal to the Imperial Government on several occasions to

IN OTIir.K LANDS

get the grievance redressed. In 1908 an ordinance was intro-
duced into the Legislative Council of Malta to reduce the
duty on frozen meat from 10s. per 175 Ibs. to Is. 3d., but the
elected members unanimously opposed it, and as the Imperial
Government did not feel inclined to overrule the elected
members, the matter dropped. The Gibraltar contract for
frozen meat concerns the troops only. It was first held by
Messrs. Wills and Co., and since 1906 it has been in the hands
of Messrs. Thomas Borthwick and Sons, Ltd. The contract
is for about 500 to 600 tons a year.

There are certain harassing conditions attached to the
Gibraltar contract. The vessel with the meat must go to the
Mole, and the contractor has to take the risk of conveying the
goods up to the store in the Rock. It is well to mention that
these and other British Government frozen meat contracts
are open to American shippers, the preference to British
suppliers, alluded to before, having vanished — in fact, the
River Plate houses have shared in the business to a small
extent. Australia has to secure the business by competing in
the open market, but having a preponderating advantage in
being able to despatch meat by the vessels sailing to England
through the Mediterranean, she is in a position to secure the
whole of the Mediterranean trade.

To Sum Up.

Exports of frozen meat, present and potential, to " Other
Lands " divide themselves into four sections, as detailed above.

First, there is the European Continental market, so far
almost virgin soil, about which in the past anticipation and
realization have widely diverged. Is it too much to hope that
\\hrn a less conservative spirit pervades German official
circles, the much needed supplies of frozen meat may be per-
mit ted to be imported? The opinion of practical men who
studied the question is that, in the cases of manufacturing
countries unable to grow all their own foodstuffs — like Germany
—barriers of the unreasonable kind which now prevail will be
removed. Only now are European countries reaching that

L'.M. B

242 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

economic stage attained by England a generation ago, namely,
that the absolute limit of the productiveness of the land in
relation to the population has been passed, and the only alter-
natives presented to these nations are reduced feeding or impor-
tation. The powers that be may fight as they please against
the new demand, but the cry for plentiful food is bound to be
listened to in the end, which is not far off in European
countries, and is approaching even in the United States of
America. In view of England's experience, the Continent has
no excuse for prejudice against frozen meat based on inex-
perience. But prejudice against it is, undoubtedly, cultivated
by the land-owning and ruling classes. Unless scientists find
unexpected grounds for discarding frozen meat on its merits,
this barrier must fall.

Secondly, there is the demand from the peoples of the Far
East. About this the obvious suggestion to make is that the
present moderate demand will grow according to the develop-
ment of industrial enterprise in Japan, China, and India.
This demand has been disappointing so far, but when the new
industries of China and Japan get into their swing, the importa-
tion of refrigerated meat supplies should follow ; the plains
of Queensland, grazing excellent beef and mutton, are but a
few weeks away from Eastern centres, and the future will,
doubtless, see a large volume of trade passing.

Then, thirdly, there are the Government contracts for
military stations, British, American, etc. The dimensions
of this avenue can pretty well be measured, and frozen
meat supplies passing along it are likely to remain fairly
constant whilst the nations are at peace. Wars of the
future will cause a great stir in the trade, and the
subject constitutes a supplementary division in this list of
" Customers."

Fourthly, there remain South and East Africa, and
about these the observation has to be made that Cape
Colony and Natal are rapidly becoming self-supporting
through the development of agricultural and pastoral
industries. Except for casual and speculative shipments to
Cape Town and Durban, such as took place in 1910 and 1911,

CUSTOMERS IN <>Tlir.R LANDS

and the arising of abnormal conditions, the demand for
ralian refrigerated produce is likely to die down. Old
residents in South Africa say that they are not at all certain
that the States named will not have to draw upon the Common-
wealth of Australia for foodstuffs in the future, but others
lay emphasis upon the view that South Africa will one day
take a place among meat exporters. It may here be suggested
that Madagascar, where there are cattle of a secondary grade
available for export, may bo drawn upon for the needs of the
white population of East and South Africa, should these
districts require meat imports in the future. A freezing works,
fitted with Haslam machinery, has lately been erected on the
island.

The holding back from the market of supplies of fat cattle
in the United States of America, and the consequent heavy
reduction of beef products, a tendency which first became
noticeable in 1907, enabled Now Zealand meat to be experiment-
ally exported from Liverpool to New York in 1910. Frozen
mutton and lambs were despatched; and although an import
duty of 1 J cents per Ib. had to be paid, the meat was sold at
a profit at 2 cents per Ib. under the price of native mutton.
This small trade was stopped by the authorities demanding
veterinary certificates in a form which, not being necessary
for the British market, had not been provided.

The Beginning of the End.

The position on the Continent at the latter part of 1910 and
during 1911 with regard to meat supplies for the people became
acute owing to pronounced shortage of locally produced meat.
S rums disturbances took place in Austria and France, with
riots causing loss of life. Throughout the more important and
thickly populated countries of the Continent the communities
rebelled against the monstrously high prices for butchers' meat
they were called upon to pay, and the mob in Vienna shouted
" Give us frozen moat." The war against the agrarian parties
was officially declared in October, 1910, when the Austrian
Government gave permission for 25 tons of Argentine frozen

i. 2

244 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

beef to be brought into the country : this declaration of war
is a modern day crossing of the Rubicon. The signs of the
times cannot be mistaken. Notwithstanding the difficulties
which were placed in the way of South American and Austral-
asian exporters of frozen meat during 1911, it is plain that the
agrarian obstructionists are weakening, and that with a little
more pressure from the people the Government will have to
relax the prohibitive regulations in force.

Summarizing what has occurred since the historic 25 tons of
beef, referred to above, made entry into Vienna, it appears that
after a fair run for the Argentine beef, permits of entry into
Austria for which were given up to June by the Government
for 3,000 tons, the agrarian party in that country again
got the upper hand, and in July, 1911, the Austrian Minister
for Agriculture announced that no further imports of frozen
meat would be allowed to enter the country. Some months
later the populace of Vienna were rioting on account of " dear
food," and in September some speculative shipments of Argen-
tine frozen beef were made — in anticipation of Austrian official
relaxation of the prohibition — to Trieste. That prohibition
was not withdrawn, and the meat was mostly sold in Italy
and Switzerland.

From Germany little can be expected until the leaven
of the 1912 general election has worked. Switzerland in
1911 was a customer for a limited quantity of Australian
frozen meat ; there are some difficulties of transport of frozen
meat to Switzerland to be overcome, but during the summer —
tourist — season it is certain that the Swiss market will call for
a certain quantity of frozen meat.

One Continental country, Italy, presents most favourable
prospects for the South American and Australasian shippers of
refrigerated meat and dairy produce. There is no disposition
on the part of the authorities to block imports, and the duty
can be easily met. A great deal of frozen beef has reached
Genoa during the last eighteen months, and the principal
exporting houses and their London agents have been making
the closest inquiries in Rome, Naples, Milan, and the other
principal Italian cities, with a view to the securing of contracts .

CUSTOMERS IN OTHER LANDS «45

In the autumn of 1911 several importing house* in London
began to open up business on the Continent . France especially,
with small trial shipments of frozen mutton, prepared in accord-
ance with the regulations prevailing in the countries to which
the sheep were dispatched, and both in Argentina and Austral-
asia, and London, arrangements were being quietly made in
the closing months of the year for the coming Continental
campaign. The Compafiia Sansinena de Carnes Congeladas fixed
up a contract for monthly supplies of mutton with an
importer in Havre, and the quartering of the carcasses,
required by the French law, takes place in the bonded cold
store of that city. It is possible that in France the restrictions
upon the importation of frozen meat will be abolished, or
modified, but that the duties will remain.

Readers are referred to Appendix III., which gives in tabular
form the estimated output of the world's freezing works in
1910, and shows the exact value of "Customers" outside the
United Kingdom to the frozen meat trade as a whole.

It only remains to be said that at no stage in the history of
the frozen meat trade have its prospects as regards new outlets
shown such a tendency to widen as at the present moment,
and even between the times of the writing and publishing of
the present volume new business may appear for refrigerated
meat shippers. This is as it should be in the case of a trade
which is still in its early youth and full of vigour, and the
reader will, therefore, rest content with deriving from this
chapter a more or less coherent idea of how this world-wide
expansion of the trade came into being.

CHAPTER XVII

THE CHILLED BEEF TRADE

MANY allusions to the chilled beef industry are scattered
throughout this book, but it is in every way desirable that a
chapter should be devoted to this branch of the refrigerated
meat trade. The Americans, who started their export dressed
beef trade to England in 1875, have always avoided complete
congealment of the meat, depending at that early date upon
the cooling power of freezing mixture in tanks aboard ship to
maintain their cargoes at a chilling temperature. In 1874
a few parcels of hard frozen beef were shipped, as mentioned
on p. 13. M. Tellier in his Frigorifique experiment in 1876
and 1877 held the meat at a temperature of 32° F.

That chilled beef as a marketable article is superior to
frozen beef is unquestionable, and the only reason why the
South American frigorificos did not adopt this way of preparing
their beef for the British market prior to the beginning of the
twentieth century lay in their assumption that their chilled
beef could not be placed on the London or Liverpool market in
sound condition. It was thought that the " life " of chilled beef
was strictly limited to about fifteen to twenty days, and that
the limit was prohibitive to an industry being carried on where
thirty or forty days elapsed between slaughter of the beeves
and the marketing of the beef. The same lion in the path
blocked anything more than the experiments which are referred
to later on in this chapter with regard to Australia and New
Zealand. With the improvement of refrigerating machinery,
rendering practicable the holding of beef in ships' chambers at
an unvarying temperature, the chances of the chilled beef
trade between Argentina and the United Kingdom became
more promising ; and with the adoption later on of a scientific
system of sterilization it was proved that the dreaded mould

HIE CHILLED BEEF TRADE MT

spot could be prevented, and, further, that beef could be
brought to London even from far distant Australia in a chilled
condition and placed on the market in good order.

Frozen beef has certain advantages as to ease of marketing ;
it can be stored without suffering deterioration, and it bean
handling better than chilled beef. But there end the points
that can be urged in its favour in comparing it with chilled.
The chilled beef industry stimulates the bringing to a high
degree of excellence the cattle of the country which makes
the shipments of the article, for the primest beef is required
for chilled exports. Chilled beef enters a high-class retail
trade, where the demand is more regular and prices higher
than for frozen beef. Chilled beef, to be sure, suffers terribly
in its wholesale value when the market is glutted, and its
prices on such occasions are apt to fall below those of frozen
beef. But the chilling process does far more justice to good
meat than does freezing, and it is difficult to avoid holding
the view that the great bulk of supplies of refrigerated beef
for Great Britain in the future will ultimately be carried at a
chilling temperature. Chilling mutton, by the way, has never
proved successful. The few experiments that have been made
in this direction have been far from encouraging in their
results : for one thing the fat of chilled mutton always becomes
discoloured.

In the nineties, a period of unrest and development in the
frozen meat trade, the first attempts were made to bring meat
from Australia and New Zealand at a chilling temperature.
The earliest experiment was that initiated by the late Mr. J. H.
Geddes, whose friends shipped 1,000 quarters of beef in the
8.8. Port Pirie from Sydney on August 21, 1894. Dr. Shiels'
" thermostat " was used to regulate the temperature of this
cargo, a Linde refrigerating machine supplying the cooling
power. The " thennostat " consisted of a system of tubing
filled with spirit and hermetically sealed. By contraction or
expansion of the agent, under the influence of temperature,
the " thermostat " controlled the action of the refrigerating
machinery and regulated the supply of cold air in the meat
chambers, thereby maintaining a uniform temperature. The

248 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

meat in the Port Pirie had to be frozen down during the voyage,
so that experiment failed. The second, third, and fourth
trials to bring chilled beef to England from Australasia were
made in 1895. The Gothic brought in two successive
voyages from Wellington 2,000 beef quarters consigned to
Messrs. Thomas Borthwick and Sons, the " thermostat "
being used also in these trials.

These shipments were the first serious attempts, showing an
appreciation of the advisability of introducing the chilling
process into the Australasian meat export trade, made by
English capitalists on a commercial scale. The beef which was
thus treated was carried at 28|° and 29° F., and was landed so
lightly frozen as to be fairly described as chilled. A certain
degree of success was achieved, but the financial results were
not sufficiently favourable to induce further shipments from
New Zealand, because, as Messrs. Borthwick reported, the
quality of the beef was not up to chilling standard. The
s.s. Rakaia later on brought 500 hindquarters from Brisbane,
but the experiment was a failure, as the beef had to be frozen
after being forty-nine days on board.

In the annual frozen meat review of Messrs. W. Weddel
and Co. for 1895, that firm suggested that in connection with
the bringing of chilled beef from Australasia " it will probably
be found that only by sterilizing the atmosphere of the
refrigerating chambers can the meat be kept sound for a
sufficiently long period " — a theory which was not practically
tested till 1909. A fifth attempt was the shipment of a
few quarters in 1896 in the s.s. Urmston Orange from
Bowen, Queensland. This meat had been dipped in oil prior
to shipment to prevent the formation of mould ; in no sense
could this beef compare with American chilled on arrival, so
this trial was also a failure.

Nine years passed, and in July, 1905, 1,200 quarters of beef
were shipped in the s.s. Tokomaru from Dunedin, New Zealand,
by the New Zealand Refrigerating Co. The shipment should
have been made by the s.s. Mataiua, which had a specially
suitable system of refrigeration, but the Tokomaru was
substituted, and various causes made the voyage a long one,

TIM-: ( mi i i.D 1:1 r.r IK \m -M«»

and it ended disastrously in the seizure of the meat by the
Port Sanitary Authority in London. When the cargo wan
<>)><-ned up, it was found that block mould had set in. This
experiment was baaed upon the fact that beef had been kept
.uml condition in the works for six or seven weeks at
chilling temperature, but like many other experiments it
failed because it ignored the crucial question of how to
prevent the development of mould spores deposited upon the
beef at the time of shipment. As no insurance could be
effected, the venture resulted in total loss, not even the
boiling down value of the beef being returned by the
Authority !

Argentina's entry into the chilled beef trade was in 1901,
in which year 40,000 cwts. were exported to Great Britain.
The River Plate Fresh Meat Co., who were its pioneers, had for
eighteen months previously been quietly experimenting. They
fitted the s.s. Zuleika with a chamber to carry 500 quarters,
and made three consecutive successful shipments in that boat
—the beef selling at Id. per Ib. more than frozen, for hinds —
before making arrangements with the Royal Mail Co. It was
the improvement in Argentine cattle stock which largely
contributed in making chilled beef such an acceptable article
of food as it is to-day, and it must therefore be recognized that
a great factor in the development of the Argentine refrigerated
meat trade was this intelligent action on the part of enter-
prising estancieros, who in fact began this reform nearly
half a century ago. The River Plate chilled beef trade has
developed rapidly. In 1901, when 40,000 cwts. were imported
from Argentina into Great Britain, the imports from the
Inited States amounted to 3,180,291 cwts; in 1910 Great
Britain imported 2,710,747 cwts. from Argentina and only
469,444 cwts. from the United States. It will be noted that
the total trade fell off in the nine years.

It was in 1908 that the chilled beef industry became un-
doubtedly a successful trade as far as South American shippers
were concerned. In that year the reduction in exports to the
United Kingdom from Chicago, etc., of live cattle and dressed
beef was about 40 per cent., and this was Argentina's oppor-

250 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

tunity. Everything suggests that the South American
Republic is to be the great beef producing country for Great
Britain ; and the American " Beef Trust " people evidently
are the strongest holders of this opinion.

Very extensive and serious losses from mould have occurred
to shippers of chilled beef from the Argentine Republic during
the ten years in which the trade has been built up, and for
years following the start of the industry. The loss accruing
from the seizures by the sanitary authorities at English ports
and markets became a pressing problem to shippers and
importers. For years it was practically impossible to get full
insurance cover for this article in transport, and, where obtain-
able, underwriters sometimes charged prohibitive rates, five
or six guineas per cent. This state of affairs set people think-
ing. If the fungus germ on the meat surface could be destroyed
and the atmosphere of the ship's chamber kept sterilized, the
mould trouble might be scotched. It may be well to state
here that Dr. Klein, Lecturer on Advanced Bacteriology at
St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and one of the highest authorities
on these questions, having made an exhaustive examination
in June, 1909, of the " black spots " on some Argentine chilled
beef, reported that " the fungus not being able to thrive at a
temperature of the animal body (98° F.) no pathogenic action
could be expected. ... It is obvious that the material of the
black spots^is harmless to the animal body." But it should be
noted that this avoidable mould defect has now been almost
entirely removed, and, in the case of some companies,
altogether eliminated. Many men worked at this scientific
problem, and Mr. J. A. Linley patented a sterilizing system
named after him and set up a small experimental plant
in the Southampton Docks cold stores. The first shipment
under this system arrived in London in September, 1907, by
the s.s. Guardiana — 1,059 quarters of beef, which were landed
in excellent condition, bright and dry. The English rights of
the patent were then taken over by the Improved Chilling Co.,
whilst the South American Improved Chilling Co. exploited
the process in Argentina.

The Linley system is thus described. First, the sterilizing

THE CHII.1.KD MI-T.r 'IK ADI S51

agent ifl evaporated by heat and driven by means of
fans through ducts into the chambers or rooms, wherein
the meat is to be hung, and there circulated. This vapour has
the effect of destroying any bacteria that may be on the
surface of the walls of the chamber. The chamber is again
charged when filled with meat, which is, of course, extremely
liable to gather the microbes in the course of butchering and
preparation for shipment. After the vapour has been
allowed to remain in the meat chamber for at least an hour it
is driven off. The ship's hold and the beef loaded in it are
similarly treated. The second stage consists of an apparatus
designed for drying and purifying the atmosphere. The air
of the chamber or room containing the produce is passed
through two tanks, the first one containing sticks of chloride
of calcium, which remove the major portion of the moisture,
the atmosphere then being passed through into a secondary
tank in which rotate discs of lead kept moist with sulphuric
acid. This latter operation gathers the remainder of the
moisture from the atmosphere and also removes any organic
impurities. Under this second system of drying and cleaning
nothing enters the chamber or the ship's hold but air cleaned
and dried. It will be seen that this treatment permits of appli-
cation to the meat after slaughter, to the cold chamber before
the meat enters, and to that chamber also when the meat
is stored. The apparatus is simple and comparatively inexpen-
sive, and both the vaporizing and drying plant may be
combined on a common bed-plate, and both are actuated by
a ventilating fan, and can be worked independently. In the
No. 1 process commercial formaldehyde is vaporized in the
plant at a temperature of about 300° F. The evaporation
takes some fifteen to twenty minutes, and one ounce of com-
mercial formaldehyde to every 100 cubic feet of the gross space
is the amount of chemical used. In the case of a store the
charged gaseous atmosphere is allowed to remain some three
or four hours, and it is then replaced by pure, dry air supplied
under No. 2 system, that is, air which has been passed in the
apparatus over chloride of calcium and lead discs rotating in
commercial sulphuric acid. The system thus provides a

252 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

complete process of sterilization, and is at once scientific and
practical, having been taken advantage of by several of the
big Argentine shippers. Nearly 400,000 quarters of chilled
beef have been brought to the United Kingdom under the
process, the machinery for which had been — at October, 1911
— fitted in four frigorificos, and on 19 vessels.

Taking advantage of the facilities offered by the Linley
process, in which, it should be mentioned, Messrs. W. Weddel
and Co. have throughout taken a keen interest, Messrs. John
Cooke and Co., of Australia, sent over to London in 1909,
1910, and 1911 five experimental shipments of chilled beef
from their Redbank works, Brisbane, in all 6,484 quarters, in
the Aberdeen Line s.s. Marathon, in which the owners had
installed the necessary Linley apparatus, in addition, of
course, to the refrigerating machinery. The first of these
trial shipments arrived in London in November, 1909, after a
passage of sixty-two days from Brisbane, the cargo consisting
of 1,181 hindquarters and 150 forequarters. The Queensland
Meat Export Co. participated in these shipments, and the
Queensland Government lent its aid in the form of a guarantee.
Three shipments arrived in London in the following year. The
condition of the beef in three of these four trials was excellent,
and it sold readily at prices averaging rather more than §d.
per Ib. above the rates current for Australian frozen beef of
similar quality. In one case the condition of the beef was
imperfect, owing to the use of unsatisfactory meat wraps.
These trials, resulting so favourably, proved that chilled beef
can be brought from Australia or New Zealand to the English
market, and that under the Linley sterilizing process it can be
delivered in sound condition even after a seventy days'
passage. But these small trials ceased in 1911, and the special
plant was removed from the Marathon. The support given to
the enterprise of the firms named by the Queensland graziers
lacked the thoroughness which was necessary for the con-
tinuance of the operations.

In 1911 an experiment on a small scale under the Nelson-
Dicks-Tyser process was tried successfully. The s.s. Muritai
brought from New Zealand 70 quarters of beef which were

THE CHILLED BEEI IIIAD1

marketed in excellent condition. But the process is too
expensive for further shipments to be made.

1 1 is satisfactory for the Australian and Now Zealand cattle
graziers to know that they are not excluded from the chilled
beef markets of the United Kingdom, and that with direct
transit, and larger and more regular supplies of beef of the
high-grade quality required for the chilled trade available
hipment, there is no reason why Australasian chilled
beef should not cross the ocean and enter into competition
in the English market with that from South America.
Until Australia and New Zealand take up this trade, one may
say that the various interests composing the export meat trade
there have fallen short of the full development of the industry.

CHAPTER XVIII

SOME NOTEWORTHY INCIDENTS I 1880 — 1910

WHILE the frozen meat industry with all its ramifications
needs to be studied separately in a number of its phases for the
reader to gain a clear idea as to its operation, it is only a running
account of the progress of the great trade as seen from the point
of sale or consumption which can indicate with any coherency
the importance attaching to the many developments in the
history of the industry. Hence an attempt is made in the
present chapter to show the evolution of the struggle which
has arisen on the part of the three competing producers,
Australia, New Zealand, and Argentina, to market their frozen
meat supplies, each working out the problem on its own system.

The story of the beginnings of the trade has already been
told. Australian frozen meat was first imported into Great
Britain in 1880, New Zealand in 1882, and Argentine in 1883.
Up to 1910 the respective totals of sheep and lambs stood
thus : Australia, 27,824,820 ; New Zealand, 72,464,591 ;
South America, 53,463,982— a grand total of 153,753,393
carcasses.

The following figures show the growth of the frozen meat
trade, and the relative position of the suppliers to Great
Britain, from 1885, when all three countries were hard at it,
to 1910:—

Per-

Per-

Per-

centage

centage

centage

_

Australia.

of

New Zealand.

of

South America.

of

Totals.

total

total

total

imports.

imports.

imports.

CwU.

CwtH.

Cwts.

Cw's.

1885

61,352

13

292,857

63

113,153

24

467,362

1890

131,252

9

875,817

60

444,017

31

1,451,086

1895

985,771

34

1,187,365

41

738,680

25

2,911,816

1900

860,040

20

1,797,864

43

1,527,057

37

4,184,961

1905

524,438

8

1,670,319

27

4,042,689

65

6,237,446

1910

2,406,094

21

2,637,003

22

6,551,276

57

11,594,373

Australia's Part. — All three of the countries mentioned
were well bet at their task of export by 1884 — 1885. But

so MM \MTI.\YOKTIIY I\HI>I.NTS: isso— 1910 255

even at that early date Australia — the pioneer — was handi-
capped by her erratic shipments. Whilst her two competitors
forged ahead well, Australia's exports were most disappointing ;
by 1889 both New Zealand and Argentina had reached their
million carcasses of sheep and lambs, but Australia only shipped
86,000 in that year.

However, in the year 1890 a move was made, and by 1895
Australia was sending 1,000,000 carcasses to the English
market. After 1896 the great drought, which culminated in
1902, began to tell, and Australian exports gradually fell
away, till in 1904 the total amount of mutton and lamb
.-hipped to Great Britain was under half a million carcasses.
From 1905 Australia has been again exporting on an increasing
scale to England. One reason to account for the falling off
just referred to in Australian shipments of mutton and lamb
to England was the demand springing up at South African
ports, Manila, and the Mediterranean, and, to a less degree, in
the East. Australia is favourably placed geographically for
supplying these countries, and, indeed, has customers for her
frozen meat in many lands.

For many years after Australia started exporting Great
Britain was her only customer, but war works potent changes
in this trade. The war in South Africa, the conquest of the
Philippines by the Americans, as well as the demands of the
British garrisons at Malta and Gibraltar, drew off a tremendous
quantity of Australian meat from the English market. In
1902 Australia exported 19,690 tons of frozen mutton and lamb,
of which only 8,510 tons were sent to Great Britain. The
pioneer shipment of frozen meat made in 1879 by the s.s. Strath-
leven, and selling on Smithfield at from 4W. to Qd. per lb.,
included beef, and this meat for about ten years was shipped
very irregularly from the various States of the Commonwealth.
In 1893 shipments rose to 10,350 tons, owing to the beginning
ot t he Queensland Meat Export and Agency Co.'s operations.
From that point to 1901 the yearly imports averaged 21,300
tons. The drought then dominated the position, and up to
Australia almost dropped out as a regular and large
supplier of frozen beef. But in 1909 Australian beef again

256 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

became a factor to reckon with. Australian beef, as a matter
of fact, has been going everywhere but to England ; in 1902,
whilst South Africa absorbed 23,905 tons of Australian frozen
beef, only 3,290 tons were imported into the United Kingdom.
Though Australia took fifteen years to get to her first million
of sheep and lambs shipped in the twelvemonth, she quickly
went ahead of New Zealand and Argentina in beef shipments
when the Queensland works started. From 1893 to 1899
Australia (nine-tenths were from Queensland) exported 160,000
tons of beef to Great Britain, the combined contributions of
New Zealand and Argentina only amounting to 41,000 tons for
that period.

In 1884 Sydney beef was sold for 6d. a Ib. at Smithfield.
Some bone-taint trouble affected early shipments — a fault,
unfortunately, that frozen beef (not Australian alone) is
occasionally subject to now, depending as it does partly upon
atmospheric conditions at time of slaughter. In 1890
Queensland beef of " magnificent quality " was imported,
though a disappointing set-off to this item was the decision of
the War Office not to allow frozen beef to be supplied, although
frozen mutton was permissible, in Army contracts. The view
of the War Office was tersely put by Mr. Lawson, Director
of Contracts (in 1893) : " We find the beef suffers from freezing,
and the soldiers do not care for it" — a dictum afterwards
found to be greatly wide of the mark. The restriction was
removed many years ago.

To proceed with the bare chronological record forming a
running account of the trade, in 1883 10,000 carcasses of
Australian mutton were thrown overboard at the Straits of
Magellan when the s.s. Sorrento was beached there. In the
following year the average weight of frozen Australian sheep
was 62| Ibs. To celebrate the opening of the campaign of the
Queensland Meat Export Co. in exporting beef to England,
a banquet was given at the Hotel Metropole, London, on
January 27, 1893. A distinguished company were present,
and Queensland frozen beef, prepared by the hotel chef, formed
the piece de resistance.

High Water Mark— and After.— From 1896 to 1899 was

SOME NOTEWORTHY INCIDENTS: 1880—1910 357

Australia's high water mark for both mutton and boof, for
later her frozen exports waned, and there was no question of
competition in quantities with the River Plate shippers. Shops
at Hamburg were opened in 1894 for the retailing of Queens-
land beef, which article came along so heavily up to 1899
that holders had to combine to sustain prices. About 1896
Australia enlarged her clientele ; the Cape, Colombo, Port Said,
( i i l>ra 1 tar, and Malta became customers. The freight on frozen
mutton from Sydney to London was reduced to \d. per ll». in
1896. In 1897 the London cold stores were congested. The
question of faulty cargoes became acute in 1897. South Africa
was buying heavily at this time from both Australia and the
Argentine, Vladivostock bought Australian beef in 1905, and
this trade continued for a few years. By 1902 Australian beef
had sunk to a shadow of its former bulky proportions in British
markets, and by 1907 the South African demand for refrigerated
produce had practically ceased, the Cape imposing a duty of
Id. per Ib. on Australian and \\d. on Argentine frozen meat ;
the duty on foreign meat is now l±d. The Transvaal has not
imposed any duty.

Australia first took hold of the lamb trade seriously in 1899,
and surprised British importers by shipping 233,000 carcasses
in that year, a two-thirds increase on the exports of 1898.
From that time onwards lamb shipments from Australia
increased at the rate of about 100,000 a year until 1903, when
the drought caused a 50 per cent, reduction. But in 1905 an
enormous expansion set in ; out of 1,368,000 carcasses imported
in that year 910,000 were lambs. From then onwards Austra-
lian shippers have steadily extended their lamb trade, receiving,
however, a check in 1908. But the seasonal import of this
article, December to March, is now one of the recognized
features of the frozen meat trade, and Australian lambs are
constantly becoming a more important feature in the English
market. In 1911 1,650,000 carcasses were imported into the
United Kingdom.

New Zealand's Progress. — As has already been said, the
progress made by New Zealand in her frozen meat exports has
from the very early days been fairly uniform and uninterrupted.

F.M.

258 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

Nevertheless, the big jump up to be noted in 1903 was followed
in 1904 by a setback almost as considerable, and exactly the
same features were noted in the import figures for 1907 and 1908.
But the expansion of the New Zealand mutton and lamb
imports, as the freezing works in the Colony increased and as
the demand in Great Britain developed, has been very satis-
factory, though market prices were at times so low that curtail-
ment of shipments seemed inevitable. The importance of the
lamb trade was foreshadowed by the fact that the first steamer
with frozen meat brought 449 lambs out of a total of 3,970
carcasses, and in the earliest days of the trade frozen lamb made
Id. per Ib. above mutton prices. But one can have too much
of a good thing, and in 1889 the market was glutted with
New Zealand lamb. In 1893 New Zealand lamb went through
the first of the crises to which it has been subject more than
once in the autumn months, after the summer trade is gone.
It receded to 3d. per Ib., a price below the price which was
then current for New Zealand mutton. In the following year
mutton experienced a slump, a record low market price of
2±d. per Ib. being quoted. Prime Canterbury mutton fell to
3d. per Ib. in 1895, and in 1897 another serious crisis in the
lamb trade occurred in September. The whole decade 1890 —
1900 was one of struggle and trial in the frozen meat trade :
problems came up for settlement, and as organization and
precedent were lacking in many departments, there was a
good deal of trouble before things settled down. Damaged
cargoes constituted the most serious question. In 1898 20 per
cent, of the cargoes from New Zealand were more or less
damaged, and conferences between shipowners and importers
were held. Damaged cargoes fortunately are now practically
a thing of the past, and in chronicling this feature which
disfigured the transit arrangements of the period referred
to, it is pleasant to note the excellent record of the vessels
conveying chilled and frozen meat from Australasia and
South America.

In 1903 the Seddon shop scheme was promulgated and
caused much excitement and feeling on Smithfield Market.
About the end of the previous year, a splendid one for

SOMI vnr. \YMHTFIY iNrmi-ATS: i MHO— 1910

n meat importers, prime Canterbury mutton had touched
6|rf. per Ib. In 1903 New Zealand tried a direct shipment
to Cardiff, and in 1906 freight arrangements were definitely
made with the Federal Lone for regular sailings to the
west coast of England. This service is running now, and
is carried on by the vessels of the Federal-Shire-Houlder
combination. By 1908 the shipments of boned frozen beef
in boxes from New Zealand assumed large proportions. This
meat was from dairy and other cattle of a light weight, and was
mostly shipped to Glasgow to be used for " minced collops "
and in other ways. During the year to July, 1908, 3,500 tons
of this beef were exported from New Zealand, valued, f.o.b.
cost, at £66,000. Under the regulations of the Public Health
Act of 1907, port and market inspectors in Great Britain
received additional authority from January 1, 1909, and the
importation of boned beef in boxes was rendered practically
impossible because inspectors found it difficult to examine
the separate pieces of meat when frozen hard in a box.

New Zealand, with herds of cattle chiefly devoted to dairying
and, therefore, not permitting any great shipment of beef, has
been an erratic exporter of this article. About 1899 she raised
the scale of exports, and for a few years placed over 100,000
quarters on the English market per annum, the high water
mark being in 1910, when 344,000 quarters were handled in

Great Britain.

•

Early Prices for New Zealand Meat. — As already men-
tioned, the pioneer shipment from New Zealand was that by
the sailer Dunedin, and the mutton brought by this vessel was
delivered in sound condition and sold for §\d. per Ib. During
the first few years of the trade it was not all plain sailing, as
some cargoes were brought in unsatisfactory condition, and
two years after the Dunedin'a arrival prices for New Zealand
mutton at Smithfield had dropped to 4Jd. to 5d. per Ib. As
early as 1883 the practice of the consignees of distributing New
Zealand meat throughout Smithfield was inaugurated. The
year 1885 was one of severe trial, and the growing trade had
to struggle against adverse influences, mainly low prices. In
1886 the Colonial and Indian Exhibition proved helpful, as

8 2

260 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

the opportunity was taken of organizing a prominent exhibit
by which the public were favourably impressed.

The second shipment of mutton brought by the Dunedin,
in 1883, made Id. to 8d. per lb., which, as far as records go,
was high water mark in rates. " If unfrozen," the chronicler
states, " the meat would have topped the market." In 1884
New Zealand mutton was 4|d. to 5d. per lb., and beef (hind-
quarters) at one time touched 6%d. to 6fd. per lb., against
American town-killed (sides) 5\d. to 6^d. per lb. The
average weight of New Zealand sheep imported in 1884 was
65J Ibs.

Rise of South American Exports. — The first arrival of
Argentine frozen meat in London was in 1883. Both the
mutton sent and the market prices it fetched were very poor
at the start ; the carcasses were almost lamb-like in proportions.
But by 1886 a considerable improvement had taken place in
the type of sheep exported. In 1884 River Plate mutton was
making 3d. to 4d. per lb. ; in that year the average weight of
the frozen sheep was 48 Ibs., 15 Ibs. less than the Australian.
In 1887 a trade with the Continent of Europe was attempted
by the Argentine companies, depots at Antwerp and Havre
were established, and in 1891 100,000 carcasses were sent to
France. By 1888 Argentina, in volume of exports and by her
excellent trade methods, showed great strength in competing
with importers of Australasian frozen meat in Great Britain.

Argentina's Success. — On an average Argentina shipped
about 5,000 frozen lambs a year up to the end of the nineties.
For the next six years her shipments averaged 150,000, and in
1909 South America became a factor in the lamb trade in
Great Britain with an export of 634,000 carcasses. In 1911
the total shipments to England exceeded 1,000,000. Argentina
was a long time making headway with beef shipments. For ten
years after the establishment of freezing works frozen beef was
quite a minor department of her business ; the meat works were
constructed for dealing with sheep, and the live cattle trade,
which began in 1890, rapidly grew to large proportions and
proved a useful avenue for the disposal of a part of River Plate
surplus stock. This, by the way, was the year in which the

SOMF NMTKWMimiY IM'IIM NT<: 1880—1910 «61

export of live sheep also started, with 22,000 head, which grew to
306,000 in 1895 without causing any scarcity of freezing sheep.
By 1896 Argentina was, in frozen beef exports, becoming a com-
ix-i it or with Australia, and in 1900 Argentine imports into Great
Britain jumped to 20,600 tons, exceeding for the first time the
receipts of Australian beef. This sudden increase was brought
about by the stoppage of the live cattle trade. Having onoe
secured the lead, Argentina went ahead fast, Australia falling
behind as rapidly as her rival advanced. By 1901 River
Plate frozen beef formed two-thirds of the total imports of this
meat into Great Britain, and soon it was a case of Argentina
lir-t , and the rest nowhere. Imports of frozen and chilled beef
in 1910 into Great Britain from South America were 252,922
tons, from Australia 44,034 ions, and from New Zealand
27,641 tons. In Chapter XVII. will be found detailed
reference to the progress of the Argentine chilled meat trade.

Argentine Advance. — As early as 1893 an experiment in
the export of chilled beef was tried ; by 1901 this hod become
a regular trade. It took some time to secure a footing in
English markets, but when the initial difficulties were over-
come butchers soon took to Argentine chilled beef, and in
course of time it proved a severe competitor of North
American chilled beef, which has now nearly disappeared from
the market. Roughly speaking, North American chilled beef
has been marketed at Id. per Ib. above Argentine chilled,
which in its turn may be put at from %d. to Id. per Ib. above
Argentine frozen beef.

For some years previous to the beginning of this century the
Argentine meat companies had been quietly adapting their
plant and general arrangements to increased handling of
cattle for freezing. So thoroughly did they take in hand
their new enterprise, that from 1900 to 1908 over 75 per cent.
of the frozen beef imported into Great Britain was from
South America ; and the competition of Argentine chilled
beef with the North American dressed beef — the choicest dead
meat that England imports — became very keen. The rapid
development of the beef export business of the Argentine
Republic stands out as one of the most sensational features of

262 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

the meat trade. It should perhaps be mentioned that the
year 1902 was an annus mirabilis for the River Plate com-
panies and their shareholders ; Sansinenas paid 50 per cent.,
and James Nelson and Sons paid 50 per cent. The dividend
paid by the River Plate Fresh Meat Co. was only 25 per cent.,
but earlier in the year a distribution of the accumulated reserve
fund was made to the shareholders by way of bonus. The bulk
of this reserve fund had, of course, been accumulated out of
previous years' profits. The shareholders were immediately
asked to put this 100 per cent, bonus back again into the com-
pany in the form of capital, so that it really amounted to
capitalizing the reserve fund. Of course, this splendid year
was followed by the Nemesis of competition, and a crop of new
freezing concerns sprang up under the stimulating effect of the
golden showers of 1902.

Frozen Pork. — From 1903 the imports of fresh pork into
Great Britain declined ; in that year the total imports were
705,844 cwts. (Holland 527,269 cwts.), and by 1906 the
quantity was reduced to 492,171 cwts. Seizing this oppor-
tunity, Australia and New Zealand shipped frozen pigs to
help fill the gap. In 1906 20,779 cwts. of frozen pork were
received from Australasia, and the goods were welcomed at
Smithfield market, and were sold fairly profitably. But it
seems that the enterprise is not a paying one for the shippers
unless the home market is under supplied, for after 1906, when
the Dutch pork was again exported freely, supplies from
Australasia fell away to an inconsiderable quantity. In 1910,
only 11,000 cwts. of frozen pork were exported from Australasia
to Great Britain, but pork is too expensive an article for the
Australian and New Zealand freezing works to handle for
export unless the shipper can expect a London market price in
the neighbourhood of 5d. per Ib.

Vitality of the Canning Trade. — With the advent of frozen
meat in the eighties, canning meat became of secondary import-
ance, and this method of handling stock has been resorted to
in Australia during the last thirty years, mostly as a collateral
to a freezing works, in dealing with the less prime parts of
slaughtered stock. But at some works all the carcass is tinned.

SO .MK NOTEWORTHY IN< 1 1 >i:NTS: 1880— 1910 863

In 1905 Queensland developed her exports of tinned meat very
heavily : there was a big glut of these goods in stock in Great
11. also of extract of beef, and prices went down to a
ruinous level. A large proportion of this canned meat was of
interior <|uulity, and in December, 1895, as low a price as 13*.
per dozen (Mb. cases (2Jd. per Ib.) was accepted. Tallow was
selling as low as 20s. per cwt. at that time. The decennial
figures of imports of canned meat into the United Kingdom
may be given for the last thirty years : —

-

Australia.

N«w Z«aUnd.

South America.

Cwta.

Cwta.

Cwta.

1880

.
.
1H10

110,491

09,821
232,465
246,604

21,808
50,301
28,4 22
44,786

3,163
10,783
41,926
•301,527

• Uruguay 191,538 cwta.

Random Jottings: 1890—1908.

Having considered the progress of the trade in connection with
the separate developments of New Zealand, Australia, and
Argentina, it may now be well to sketch leading historical
events that embrace all three sections. In the nineties
difficulties and problems presented themselves in England as
imports increased ; in 1892 France established frozen meat
import regulations, requiring that certain organs should be left
in the carcass, which practically closed the markets of that
country to shippers. Another obstacle to opening up the
inent for frozen meat was raised in 1905 by Germany
advancing the import duty on meat by 50 per cent. Early
in the nineties selling prices became lessened, and it was plain
that to make profits the costs of production and realization of
frozen meat must be lowered.

In 1894 the London cold stores were blocked for nine months,

264 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

and vessels were kept on demurrage as floating stores : Queens-
land beef was then arriving in large quantity. In that year
the working capacity of the London stores was 500,000 car-
casses, stowed to marks, and there were 100 vessels engaged
in the trade. By 1895 the capacity of the London stores had
risen to 1,000,000 carcasses. The British Government built cold
stores in the Mediterranean to make the supply of frozen meat
for the troops possible. By 1898 English cold stores got well
ahead of requirements, and the " refrigerated fleet " numbered
131 vessels. Frozen rabbits by 1899 became a menace to the
cheaper kinds of frozen mutton, and in the following year
19,000 tons were imported into Great Britain. In 1899 beef
was first shipped from Australasia with jute bags over the
calico wrappers. In 1901, the heyday of the Australian
exports to South Africa of refrigerated produce, there were
twenty- two cold stores in the latter country.

Owing to the scarcity of New Zealand mutton for some
months at the end of 1902 and the beginning of 1903, 120,000
carcasses of chilled mutton from North America were imported
into England, the mutton being sold from 3%d. to 4|d. per Ib.

Contrasting Systems. — The main difference between the
Australasian and Argentine sale systems in Great Britain is
the direct outcome of the fact that the Argentine companies
have their head or branch offices in London. This is the case
with most of them, though the Smithfield and Argentine Meat
Co., the South American Export Syndicate (Rio Seco), Com-
pafiia Frigorifica de Patagonia (San Gregorio), and the Vene-
zuela Co., transact their business through agents. But in the
historic periods of the Argentine frozen meat trade, 1883 — 1902,
during which the industry was in the making, the whole system
was exceedingly compact. The three great companies bought
their stock, froze the meat, shipped it in vessels owned or
chartered by themselves, and landed and sold it in Great
Britain. The Sansinena Co. and the River Plate Fresh Meat
Co. distributed and sold their meat through the usual whole-
sale channels, whilst Messrs. James Nelson and Sons relied
mainly upon their shops. The c.i.f. selling system was intro-
duced when the La Plata Co. sent its meats to England, but

\mi WOKTHY I \CIDKNTS: 1880-1910 «65
the sale of its works in 1907 stopped this method of doing

Tin- Now Zealand and Australian systems were essentially
clinVrent from those of the Argentine. Up to a comparatively
recent time all frozen meat from those countries was either
consigned to brokers or agents in London for sale on commission,
«>r \vas sold outright to English c.i.f. buyers. The opening of
London offices by the Christchurch Meat Co. marked a new
departure ; another system was introduced by English capital-
ists. .Messrs. Thomas Borthwu-k and Sons, Ltd., r>tul)lishing
offices in New Zealand, and buying and shipping their own
meat, and, later again, acquiring their own meat works in
New Zealand and Australia. Messrs. W. and R. Fletcher, Ltd.,
acquired freezing works at Geelong, Victoria, in 1901, and
Moinrri. Henry S. Fitter and Sons have had an office at Christ-
church, New Zealand, for many years.

Producers' Conferences. — A survey of the various movements
undertaken for the advancement of trade interests reveals the
repeated formulation of schemes of various kinds intended to
improve the conditions of the trade, the product of ingenious
I > ruins in Australia and New Zealand and elsewhere. In the
River Plate trade, where frozen meat interests were concen-
trated, one does not hear of such things ; but so many people
are concerned in the Australasian meat export business that
divergent views as to the management of a crisis have from time
to time necessitated conferences and the submission of special
proposals. It may be interesting to record four of these
schemes.

In 1887 the first conference was held, and on October 18 of
that year the following firms and gentlemen met to consider
" combined action amongst consignees of New Zealand mutton
to support prices " : — Nelson Brothers and Co., Ltd. ; Miles
Brothers and Co.; John Bell and Sons; Shaw, Savill and
Albion Co., Ltd. ; New Zealand Shipping Co., Ltd. ; Gear
Meat Preserving Co., Ltd. ; P. Comiskey, T. Russell, F. Lark-
worthy ; New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Co., Ltd.
A scheme to regulate supplies, limit prices, and concentrate
sales was considered and rejected.

266 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

A New Zealand Scheme. — On September 5, 1893, at the
request of the agricultural and pastoral societies, a conference
was called by the New Zealand Government of delegates
representing the^sheepowners and freezing companies of the
Colony, and this was held at Wellington and numerously
attended. The meeting was summoned to discuss certain
schemes presented by Messrs. D. J. Nathan and M. C. Orbell,
and the following resolutions were put before the conference : —

1. " That the present methods of conducting the frozen meat
trade being unsatisfactory and unprofitable to the sheep farmer,
it is desirable that a controlling company representing the
various interests concerned be formed for the purposes set
forth below : —

" (a) To arrange for the amalgamation, buying-out, or federa-
tion of existing freezing companies.

" (b) To negotiate with shipping companies as to freights and
kindred matters.

" (c) To inspect, report, and act, as to the suitability and class
of ships employed in the trade, and in regard to the insulation,
etc.

" (d) To attend to grading and insurance, watch the unloading
in London, arrange for storage accommodation near port of
discharge, and thus enable supply to be regulated, also save
many handlings and cost of barges and delays caused thereby.

" (e) To arrange for the concentration of the trade in Great
Britain and elsewhere, and to open up new distributing centres.

" (/) To issue debentures for the purchase of existing works,
new plant, or establishing other works, and for raising the
necessary capital.

" (g) To provide a sinking fund for the repayment of deben-
tures."

2. " That, in order to achieve the objects set forth in the fore-
going resolution, this conference desires the Government to
introduce a Bill empowering such company to levy tax upon
all sheep in the Colony. Shares to be allocated to each stock-
holder in proportion to the total amount of his paid-up sheep
tax."

After a long debate the resolutions were withdrawn, and the

>o\li: N< m:\VollTHY l\( I Dl .NTS: 1880-1910 267

following ones, proposed by Mr. A. C. Begg, of the New Zealand
Refrigerating Co., were adopted : —

1 . "In the opinion of this conference any attempt to estab-
lish a monopoly of the frozen meat industry of the Colony
would be both undesirable and impracticable."

2. " That, in order to give confidence to buyers and to secure
as far as possible good quality of the meat exported, it is desir-
able that the freezing companies in the Colony should agree to
a uniform system of grading, as far as consistent with due
regard to local conditions."

3. " That, in order to regulate the supplies to the home
market, and to prevent the glut which has been occasioned by
excessive shipments during the first half of each year, it would
be very advantageous if provision were made for storage
accommodation in the Colony, so that supplies sent forward
may be regulated and any glut prevented."

This conference marked one of the stages of development of
the meat export trade of New Zealand. From 1889 to 1894 the
average price realized by prime Canterbury wether mutton at
Smithfield Market had fallen to the following rates : 4fd. per lb.,
4|d., 4fd., 4Jd., 4|rf., and 41^. — these were top quotations.
The flockowners in the Colony became alarmed about the
future, and schemes and plans without end were put forward
to effect improvement in the conditions, locally and in England,
under which the frozen meat industry was carried on. It
is curious that the practical (positive) outcome of a confer-
ence called to sanction a revolutionary and visionary scheme
should have been the acceptance of two such businesslike
methods as standardized grading and local storing, neither of
which has yet been effectually carried out !

Two London Conferences. — In September, 1897, a desperate
slump occurred in the lamb trade. The chief holders met on
September 22, and a declaration of stocks (200,000) held by
them was made. In March, 1898, a series of meetings was
held in London and attended by these firms for the purpose of
considering the lamb position, which had again become acute.
These conferences, under the auspices of the Frozen Meat
Trade Association, were considered to have checked the " rot "

268 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

which had set in. Skipping forward a decade, allusion may be
made to one more meeting of the trade. That was on May 4,
1909, when Sir Montague Nelson invited all leading importers
of frozen mutton, Australasian, South American, and North
American, to discuss the position — an exceedingly dismal one
of over-supply and under-demand. Nothing came of this
conference except a useful exchange of views. In the market-
ing of Australasian frozen meat it has often been necessary
to attempt to secure combined action, either in limiting
quantities offered or in fixing minimum prices ; but such
movements have rarely been completely successful owing to
the number of holders and their widely divergent interests.

Mr. Twopeny's Mission. — One of the most authoritative and
well-supported movements engaged in by meat exporters was
the formation in Sydney in September, 1896, of the Australian
Meat Export Association. Mr. R. E. N.Twopeny was appointed
delegate to visit London for the purpose of forming a committee
of the London representatives of Australian pastoral interests
to supervise the disposal of Australian meat in the United
Kingdom. Mr. Twopeny succeeded in forming the committee,
which sat for some months under the presidency of Mr. E. T.
Doxat. The committee recommended that there should be
a regulation of supplies of meat by agreement amongst the
freezing companies, and also that a limitation of the number
of consignees in the United Kingdom was desirable. Mr. John
Cooke was somewhat in opposition to the London committee
scheme, holding that " our first duty in the Colonies is to set
our own houses in order by shipping only first-class meat, and
arranging for its transport and delivery in first-class condi-
tion." Although Mr. Twopeny carried out his mission in first-
rate style, the London committee failed to send prices upward.
The British Australasian of March 11, 1897, thus alluded to
the matter : " It is apparent that what has occurred has been
one of those occasional deviations from established usage
prompted by the pressure of depressed conditions of trade.
Ten Anglo-Australian merchants and bankers have been
discussing academic problems, such as the c.i.f. trade, concen-
tration of shipments, etc., at a round table, and still we are no

SOME NOTEWORTHY isvihi.vrs: 1880—1010 209

nearer a solution of the one important problem — how to raise
prices to a permanently paying level."

Regarding these conferences connected with the frozen meat
trade, whether of producers in Australasia or of importers and
merchants in London, one cannot gather that much in tho
shape of practical results attended them. A healthy inter-
change of views took place, but the clashing of interests, both
at producing and selling point, to be expected in a trade where
there is such keen competition, has hitherto stood in the way
of the acceptance of proposals involving uniformity of action.

Meat Marking. — The Select Committee of the House of
Lords appointed on August 25, 1893, with the late Lord Onslow
as its chairman, to consider the marking of foreign and colonial
produce, issued a voluminous report. The Merchandise Marks
and the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts had not been completely
satisfactory in stopping misrepresentations and dishonest
trading. Bills advocating the marking of imported meat and
(or) the licensing of retailers of the same have, of course, been
before Parliament ever since the refrigerator became a factor
in meat supplies. The Committee's Report has become a
classic, and much valuable literature bearing on the retail
vending of imported meat is to be found therein. The Com-
mittee, whilst reporting that the consumer would benefit by
the marking of meat, did not show any enthusiasm in recom-
mending compulsory meat marking ; but they were agreed
that marking could be done satisfactorily. A metal tag paved
through the shank bone of legs and shoulders, and sealed, was
suggested in the case of mutton. Aniline dyes were not
approved on account of the lack of permanence of the mark.
The Committee reported clearly in favour of the registration
of the retailers of imported meat and the affixing of a notice
to that effect over their shops. The evidence placed before
the Committee showed that misrepresentation in the (retail)
meat trade existed, chiefly in the substitution of American
• lulled beef for English and Scotch. The Report said : " It
does not appear that retail butchers habitually inform their
customers of the source of origin of their meat. The usual
is to supply such quality of meat as is likely to meet

270 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

with the approval of the customer without giving any actual
guarantee of origin." That " usual practice " still prevails.
But the Committee had cases before them of gross fraudulent
sales, the most glaring of which was " The Old Established
Welsh Mutton House " in the Strand (until ten years ago),
where New Zealand mutton, the retail value of which was Id.
per lb., was sold as " Welsh " at IQd. A witness stated : " I
have seen ' Prime Canterbury ' stuck above a shop that had
nothing but River Plate mutton in it."

False Trade Description. — Allusion may be made here to an
episode in the history of the New Zealand meat trade. The
Government of that State has always been careful to safe-
guard the interests of its meat exporters. In 1900 the Agent-
General in London determined to institute prosecutions of
retailers against whom a clear case could be brought of passing
off inferior meat as New Zealand produce. " New Zealand "
and " Canterbury " as terms had got to be well known and
liked, and so unscrupulous retailers were in the habit of apply-
ing them recklessly. The matter was first put to the test by
Mr. H. C. Cameron, the New Zealand Government's Produce
Commissioner in the United Kingdom, bringing proceedings
against a Blackpool butcher for applying a false trade descrip-
tion to a leg of mutton which the defendant sold to him on
March 16, 1900. This and similar cases were taken under the
Merchandise Marks Act, 1887, under which measure for a
prosecution to be successful it is necessary that the " false
description " shall be in writing. The magistrates dismissed
the case, but the High Court sent it back to them, and the
retailer was convicted. Other prosecutions were brought
afterwards on similar grounds, and the New Zealand Govern-
ment went to considerable expense and trouble to put a stop
to this fraudulent practice, which, if persisted in, might well
have injured the high reputation of the Colony's produce.
In 1905 the New Zealand Government in conjunction with the
London County Council summoned a meat salesman for apply-
ing the labels of the New Zealand Refrigerating Co. and other
New Zealand labels to Australian lambs supplied under contract
to some of the London County Council asylums as New Zealand

SOM1 VtlTWMKTHY I \( I DKNTS : 1MSO_1<)10 271

lambs. This case was under the same Act and on the same
indictment. On the evidence of the prosecutors, there was
about Hd. to 2d. per Ib. difference in value between the two
descriptions of lambs. The defendant was fined £20 for having
in his possession the goods falsely described. A " hair-pin "—of
the kind then used to pin down Australian lambs' tails at the
time of freezing — played no small part in the evidence against
the loser. Another conviction was secured in 1907 on much the
same grounds ; in this case Argentine meat was supplied under
contract in place of the New Zealand article.

That the substitution of frozen meat for the home-
grown article in the retail trade does not prevail as largely
as is thought by many people is proved by the relatively
low wholesale values for the former. Undoubtedly, some
people buying " Canterbury " mutton and lamb think they
are getting meat produced in the English Canterbury district,
such is the magic ring of the trade description " Prime
Canterbury." Salesmen say that the Canterbury brand will
sell anything. That improper misrepresentation takes place,
and constantly, no one can doubt. Each grade is substituted
for tho one above ; American chilled beef for Scotch, Canter-
bury meat for home-grown, and Australian and Argentine
mutton (to a diminishing extent) for New Zealand. The persons
who have a right to complain are the English and Scotch
farmers, who feel to some extent in restricted values the effect
of the substitution of the imported article for their home-raised
meat. The consumer, too, has certainly good reason to find
fault with his butcher, though the number of those who will
not admit the excellence of the quality of the chilled beef and
frozen mutton and lamb is becoming less and less. The
admitted and open sale of "town-killed" beef for En.
that is to say, at " English " retail values, is an unjustifiable
practice, pressing hard upon the home producer in England.
One of the reasons to account for the popularity of the live
le trade with the carcass butchers is the profit which they
make in buying American cattle landed at English ports and
retailing this " town-killed " beef as home-grown. There
was a case in the English High Court in October, 1908 (British

272 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

Tea Table Co. v. Gardner], in which Mr. Justice Ridley made
this remark : "I understand English beef to be beef bred
and killed in England. One might as well call the English
soldiers killed at the battle of Waterloo ' Belgians.' ' The
judge referred in terms of disapproval to the plea that " town-
killed " is recognized by market custom as English meat.

Mr. Edward Lloyd, master butcher, of Chester, gave evidence
before the Marking of Foreign Meat Committee on June 27,
1893, and the following paragraphs from the Report are
instructive : —

Lord Onslow (Chairman) : "You assert that if a purchaser went into a shop and
asked where the meat [Birkenhead-killed American cattle] came from he would be
told that it came from England ? "

MV. Lloyd : " Yes, in 99 cases out of 100. Scotch bullocks they call them often
enough."

Lord Onslow : " That which is bought a penny a pound cheaper wholesale is
sold at the same price as that which is bought at a penny a pound dearer ? "

Mr. Lloyd : " Exactly."

Lord Onslow : " And therefore the purchaser and the consumer have to pay more,
and the butcher makes a great piofit ? "

Mr. Lloyd : " Exactly."

The Scotch and English graziers are the principal victims,
for were the American beef sold as " American beef," the
public, to some extent at least, would not buy it, however good
it might be.

The above remarks have not the force to-day which they
possessed some years ago, for North American exports of
both fat stock and chilled beef to Great Britain have very
considerably fallen off of late. Also it is well to say that, as
Argentine and Australian mutton have so greatly improved
and advanced relatively in price, there is not now so much
temptation for the retailer to substitute these meats for New
Zealand as there was some years back — but there is a readier
opportunity !

The most recent appeal to the law to invoke penalties for
selling as New Zealand mutton meat which, as alleged by the
prosecutor, the New Zealand Government, was of Australian
origin, was tried in the Liverpool Police Court in May, 1911.
The defendants were shipping merchants, and they sold to the
Allan Line a quantity of mutton marked with the " Crescent "
brand of the New Zealand Refrigerating Co. The contract

SOMK \<>T1.\\<)KT11Y I V IDI.YI-: 1880-1910 J73

was for New Zealand mutton, and the prosecution suggested
the meat was Australian. The " Crescent " brand has
not been used since the New Zealand Refrigerating Co. was
11 over by the Christchurch Meat Co. in 1906, but tin-
magistrate ignored that, and only applied himself to the point,
had Australian mutton been substituted for New Zealand ?
hi ( .inducting a case of this kind the prosecutor is fighting a
lone hand, and to provide the necessary array of witnesses is
far from easy. The magistrate held that no primd fade
case had been made out, and dismissed the charge, but
without costs.

Rise and Fall of North American Beef Export Trade.—
When beef was first exported from the United States of
America (1874), cattle numbered 27,000,000. The stocks
rose year by year until 1892, by which time the 1874 figures
had increased to 54,000,000 — a 100 per cent, increase. The
population in 1892 had expanded to about 65,000,000. From
1892 cattle statistics report a falling tendency down to 1900, but
in 1901, owing to altered methods of " enumerating," an extra-
ordinary jump upwards from about 44,000,000 head of cattle
in 1900 to 62,000,000 occurred. The high-water mark of
cut tie in the United States of America was in 1907 with
72,500,000. If the appendix dealing with imports of fresh
beef is consulted, it will be seen at a glance how important
have been supplies of beef under refrigerated conditions from
the North American meat works. Up to the end of 1909, from
the beginning of imports from all supplying countries, imports
from the United States of America of chilled beef exceeded in
quantity the supplies from South America and Australasia put
together, frozen and chilled beef. In 1901 there were imported
into Great Britain over 150,000 tons of chilled beef from North
Aim-rica, and from that point the demands of the increasing
|io|>uKiti.in in the exporting country began to tell, and in 1911
only 8,720 tons were despatched to Great Britain, with a
:'-ncy to further serious curtailment.

F.M.

\

CHAPTER XIX

A MISCELLANY

IN the compilation of a record of an industry with so many
ramifications as the frozen meat trade, there is necessarily
difficulty in assigning a proper position in the story to many
side issues which have to be dealt with. A chapter of mis-
cellanea is almost inevitable, and the following items of interest
are, without apology, given, regardless of their heterogeneous
character.

Congress of Refrigeration.

It is generally recognized that the campaign to secure markets
for frozen meat among the countries of the Continent of Europe,
a fight only now proceeding — slowly — to its more hopeful
stages, has had a valiant protagonist in the International
Congress of Refrigeration. The Premier Congres International
du Froid was held in Paris in October, 1908, and nearly 4,000
delegates, from forty-three countries, attended this successful
gathering, which was organized by a French engineer, the late
M. J. de Loverdo. The international movement has done much
to stimulate an industry which, because of its special character,
had previously lacked the stimulus of combined action within
its ranks, and for this, as well as for the wide publicity gained
for commercial refrigeration, M. de Loverdo, with his initiative
and organizing genius, is principally to be thanked. His death,
which took place on January 12, 1912, was felt to be due in
some measure to his tremendous labours for this cause. At the
Paris Congress 174 papers were read, and among the numerous
resolutions carried were several bearing upon the subjects
treated in this book. Two of them may be given. Mr. T. A.
Coghlan, Agent-General in London for New South Wales, had
devoted his attention at the Congress to the modification
or abolition of regulations hindering the import of refrigerated

A MISCELLANY 275

produce into any country, in the interests of cheaper food,
and his resolution, aa accepted, was as follows : —

" That the Congress expresses its opinion that in order to
reduce the cost of living to the working-classes, and to promote
international trade, regulations which hamper the introduc-
tion into any country of frozen or chilled produce, and the
storage, distribution, and sale of such produce in any such
country, should be modified or abolished."

The other resolution (which was carried) was one proposed
by Mr. Gilbert Anderson : —

" That, in view of the large expansion of the trade in refri-
gerated products, it is desirable that an international uniform
standard of meat inspection be established and agreed to by
the various countries exporting and importing animal foods so
as to ensure the healthy condition of the meat."

Although no immediate action was taken with regard to
this resolution, M. de Loverdo rather more than a year before
his death proceeded to organize an International Meat Inspec-
tion Conference, to which it is still hoped the Powers may be
officially invited by the French Government to send delegates in
1912. This is a great step in the right direction, and it is felt
that the discussion of the subject among expert delegates of both
meat producing and consuming countries may do much to con-
vince the latter that the high standard of inspection ruling in
the British exporting countries is a strong argument for the
removal of the barriers that are now raised against this trade.
It will, 'doubtless, be the policy of British producers to ask
European delegates their highest demands as to an inspection
standard, and then to satisfy those demands as far as their
exports are concerned.

The veteran refrigerating engineer and inventor, Charles
Tellier, whose pioneer work is recorded elsewhere, was present
at the Paris Congress, and was accorded a great ovation.
As an outcome of the Congress the Association Internationale
du Froid was formed, besides which it was decided to hold a
second Congress in Vienna two years later and further Con-
triennially. The British organization of these Con-
has been conducted by the Cold Storage and Ice

T 2

276 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

Association, the scientific body in the United Kingdom repre-
sentative of the refrigerating industry.

The Second Congres International du Froid was held in
Vienna in October, 1910. Governmental representatives of the
meat exporting countries were well to the fore, and Sir William
Hall-Jones, High Commissioner for New Zealand, moved the
following resolution, which was carried unanimously in full
Congress : —

" That, subject to every reasonable regulation to ensure
sound and perfect condition, restrictions operating to prevent
the introduction of refrigerated meats and other food products
into countries whose inhabitants would benefit by their addition
to their food supplies, should be abolished or modified."

At the Vienna Congress it was decided to hold the Third
Congress in America in 1913, and Chicago has been fixed upon
as the centre for these meetings on September 15 to 20 of that
year.

Lord Bacon's Frigorific Experiment.

It is reported that as early as in 1816 three Esquimaux
were the forerunners of the commercial pioneers of sixty-
four years later. They brought frozen ptarmigan and other
game to Harwich packed in air-tight cases. They had
to pay £50 duty and £10 for carriage, but this produce from
the frozen North sold well. Back farther, to 1626, we come
to the incident, which no conscientious chronicler can
neglect, in which Lord Bacon fell a victim to his praiseworthy
endeavours to open up the frozen meat trade. Here is the
biographer's statement : —

King James died in 1625. His unfortunate and ill-requited Chancellor (Bacon)
survived him for little more than a year. Always in feeble health from his youth,
his life was finally sacrificed to an experiment. He believed that decomposition
might be prevented by freezing (then an original idea), and he determined to
ascertain, experimentally, if he was right. Therefore, one cold spring morning he
drove to Highgate, alighted, bought a fowl at a neighbouring cottage, and stuffed
it with snow which lay on the ground around him. By the time this operation
was finished he felt greatly chilled, and sought warmth and shelter at Lord
Arundel's house, which was near at hand. Here he was gladly welcomed by the
household, given warm cordials, etc., and was put into a damp bed(!). From this
fatal hospitality he never recovered ; and he seems to have been aware that he was
in great danger, for he wrote to his absent host, comparing himself to the elder
Pliny, who lost his life by too near an approach to Vesuvius when watching a

A MISCELLANY M77

terrible eruption, )>ut adding that his own experiment had ended "excellently
well." A forcr and cold on the lung* closed the career of one of the greatest
Englishmen one week afterward*. He died on Batter morn, Oth April, 1620, at the

;»„•.• ..f •;>;.

Let the reader note that it was not refrigeration but a damp
bed which ended the career of Lord Bacon. Many people
think his frigorific experiment brought the fatality.

Nor must the mammoth be lost sight of ! During the last
fifty years mammoths have been dug up in Siberia and their
flesh found in excellent condition, after preservation for who
knows how many centuries. Only the other day came the
story from Russia of certain men of science who cooked and
ate part of a mammoth found encased in ice in Siberia.
Curiously enough, the Life of Bishop Ridding, which has lately
been published, tells of a similar banquet. It was at the
Westminster Deanery, whither, in his undergraduate days,
Frank Buckland sometimes carried off young Ridding to
partake of the trying hospitality of his father, the Dean.
" His sideboard bristled with fossils, and his tables groaned
under meats of which his guests ate sparingly. ' That was
mammoth soup, made from the bones of a mammoth encased
in Siberian ice from prehistoric times ! ' the host triumphantly
informed his guests one day after they had eaten it."

South Africa as a Possible Meat Exporter.

The export of frozen meat of late years has been adopted
in an experimental style in various countries which are
not in the ordinary way on the list of suppliers to the
British markets. One or two small lots of beef and lamb
have arrived at Smithfield, London, from time to time
from South Africa, Natal particularly. The venture probably
has been undertaken more to test the quality of the
Natalians' stock than with the idea of establishing a regular
Inisiness. However, it tends to show that British South Africa
hopes to supply herself with beef and mutton. Mr. Francis
Harrison, the Acting Trades Commissioner for the Union of
South Africa, communicated the following account of a tiny
;nmcnt of beef from Cape Colony that arrived in London

278 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

in the summer of 1910 : — " The South African beef in question,
consisting of a carcass weighing 126 stones, realized tyd. per Ib.
The quality of this South African consignment was reported
by Smithfield to be, if anything, superior to that of
the beef from other countries, although some few improve-
ments were suggested in the matter of dressing, and the
recommendation was made to ship younger cattle hi the future,
and, if possible, in a cooled state, instead of being frozen hard."

Frozen Beef from St. Helena.

The unexpected happened when the import of a parcel of
frozen beef (8 sides) from this island into London occurred in
1909. The Imperial Government are adamant, as a rule, to
applications for subsidies or assistance for commercial purposes,
but the authors learn that on behalf of the struggling farmers
of this Crown Colony, the Government of Great Britain
extended a helping hand in the way of supervising and assisting
the small shipment of beef, which, unfortunately, realized an
unremunerative price for the consignors.

Argentine Meat at 18d. an Ounce.

A startling incident occurred in 1910 at the Palermo Inter-
national Fat Stock Show, held on July 15. Nothing more
remarkable is chronicled in this book than the contest
between the Las Palmas frigorifico and La Plata frigorifico
for the possession of a bunch of five Hereford steers owned by
Messrs. Duggan Brothers. A world's record was established
when the La Plata people secured the animals with the fabulous
bid of $11,500 m/n (£1,004) per beast, the cost of the meat
working out at Is. 6d. per ounce. The La Plata company took
in all 177 head of cattle, at a cost of $310,600 m/n (£27,116).
These cattle were all chilled and exported to the London
market. The beef was of splendid quality, but suited to the
winter rather than the summer trade, and the price at which it
sold was not above that ruling for chilled beef of primest

A MBCELLAN1

quality. When asked, after the Show, for some explanation
of his action in buying the Hereford* at over £1,000 a head,
Mr. Pry or, the La Plata manager, stated : — " We want
Argentine breeders to be assured that if they will only pro-
dii' «• the right sort of animals, prices will be forthcoming
to remunerate them amply."

Canterbury Mutton at the Lord Mayor's Show.

I n the early days of the frozen meat trade one of the principal
problems which confronted the importer was the bringing of
the meat prominently under the notice of the masses of the
population. One of the most successful efforts in this direction
was made with carcasses of Canterbury mutton, selected from
parcels consigned to the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile
Agency Co., Ltd. By the combined ingenuity of the con-
signees, their Smithfield salesmen, Messrs. Ward and Stimpson,
and a leading firm of carriers, a lorry load of these carcasses
formed one of the exhibits of the Lord Mayor's Show in the
year 1885. The mystery as to how this exhibit came to form
part of the famous procession has never been satisfactorily
cleared up by the City authorities, but the fact remains that
the lorry with these carcasses hanging from a specially prepared
framework of wooden beams traversed the streets of the City
and formed an object of curiosity and interest to the thousands
of cheering sightseers who were informed by placard that the
carcasses in question were "New Zealand Frozen Mutton— the
Meat of the Future." As a matter of fact, the lorry
waa driven by Mr. Fardel! , principal of the firm of van
proprietors referred to above, into the unformed procession
behind the Guildhall. Excellent as was this advertisement, it
did not end with the mere exhibition of the meat in the streets
of the City, for the morning papers of the following day all
commented upon this novel feature of the Lord Mayor's Show,
some treating it as part of the authorized procession, and
others indignantly inquiring how it was the lorry with its
burden found a place in the time-honoured pageant. It is

280 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

also recorded that though the carcasses lost some of their
bloom by exposure to the murky November atmosphere, they
were sold at Smithfield on the following morning at prices
above the market value of the day for prime carcasses, as the
buyers were anxious to exhibit them in their shops as frozen
mutton which had formed part of the Lord Mayor's Show. A
very smart advertisement !

Kosher Frozen Meat.

One of the modern distribution developments of the trade
in Great Britain is indicated in the following advertisement
which appeared in The Jewish World of August 19, 1910 : —

NOTICE TO THE JEWISH PUBLIC : — We hereby give notice that the Ecclesias-
tical Authorities and the London Board of Shechita have granted facilities for the
importation of Chilled and Frozen Kosher Meat from Argentine. This meat is
prepared by officials authorised by the Ecclesiastical Authorities, and appointed
by the Board of Shechita. The meat is porged and Koshered prior to being
shipped, and is therefore ready for use. The first consignment has arrived and
will be followed by consignments at regular intervals. It is now on sale in the
shops of retail butchers holding the Licence of the Board. Honvitz & Abrahams,
Limited, Importers, 56 Aldgate High Street, E.C.

The first lot of kosher frozen fores of beef — from the Campana
works — arrived in London in August, 1910. A five years'
contract was entered into with the River Plate Fresh Meat Co.
for the supply of regular consignments. The whole scheme
was pushed forward by the Jewish authorities in the interest
of the poorer sections of the Jewish community, owing to the
high prices of home and European supplies. At the time of
the arrival of the above-mentioned shipment, prime English
Kosher forequarters sold at 6%d. per Ib. ; the Argentine kosher
fores made 3d. to 3$d. Over ten years ago Nelson Brothers
made a bold bid for this business, but the scruples then of the
Shechita Board on religious grounds could not be got over, and
it is unfortunate that six months after the launching of the
later enterprise recounted above the official announcement
had to be made that the trade had not proved a success.

A Mix H.I. ANY J81

When the Jewish retail butchers expressed fhrir failure to
create a demand for the meat, the Jewish authorities arranged
for its sale from a shop opened especially for this purpose, but
r\. M this enterprise was not rewarded with success, thanks to
|tn judice which, presumably, is to be found among Jews as
well as Gentiles.

Doubts are expressed as to the likelihood of a trade in
kosher frozen meat ever being built up, unless the authorities
are prepared to alter their regulations to permit of salting
after delivery in Great Britain. For it is stated that the salt
used in koshering renders the meat unfit for the application
of freezing.

Some description of koshering meat may here be given in
the words of a Jewish Rabbi: — "With one swoop of the knife
we have to cut two pipes in the throat — the oesophagus and the
thorax. If at least half of each of the pipes are cut with one
swoop, the animal is considered to be properly killed. It
does not live more than a minute after the cut, and there is
not the slightest doubt that within ten seconds after the knife
has passed across the throat there is no consciousness of pain,
and in that respect, at any rate, it has a great advantage over
the ordinary method of pole-axing. When an animal has
ceased to live, the slaughterer makes an examination of the
lungs, and the slightest anatomical derangement or defect may
cause the animal to be discarded as unfit for human food. If,
on manual examination, everything is found to be satisfactory,
thru the lungs are removed and examined optically, and if
then there is nothing unsatisfactory, the shochet requests one
of the attendants to distend the lungs by blowing, and soon
they reach the size and become just as they were in the body
before death. If he puts a little moisture on any suspected
<luring the time of distent ion the air will escape. If any
.-in- escapes, it will be seen by the bubbles rising fnmi tin-
ton placed there. If there are bubbles, the animal is
considered to be ' trifah,' or until. If it is all right, the
shochet places a little leaden stamp upon the various parts
of t he carcass, on which is written the word ' kosher ' in
Hebrew on one side and the day of the week on the other, and

282 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

thus the meat is guaranteed to be fit for food. If our contention
is correct, and we can trace most diseases by examination of
the lungs, it is evident we do, at least, something from the
sanitary standpoint in discarding such animals as are unfit.
Even after the meat has been purchased and brought home, it
is not done with. The blood is removed, so far as possible, by
soaking the meat in water for half an hour, and then it is
covered with salt, the salt being again removed by rinsing.
That process is called making the meat ' kosher.' The flesh
of beasts dying from any other cause than death by the shochet
is forbidden. The veins and arteries are, before eating, removed
by a peculiar process. Diseased or dying animals must not
be killed. The * kosher ' Jew does not eat the hindquarters
of the animal."

An Early Welcome to Frozen Meat,

In the account of the efforts of the pioneers of the frozen
meat trade, the work of Mr. John Grigg, of Longbeach, New
Zealand, must be noted. The following account of the recep-
tion in this country of meat shipped by Mr. Grigg on the
Dunedin in 1881 is given by his son, Mr. J. C. N. Grigg : —

" When the sailing ship Dunedin left Port Chalmers, part of
the cargo were some half-bred Shropshire wethers and lambs
railed from Longbeach by my father, John Grigg, and con-
signed to the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Co. in
London. Three lambs and two wethers were consigned direct
to me at Cambridge, they were delivered to me on a Monday,
and directly they arrived I had them put in a fishmonger's ice
room and wrapped in a blanket, where they remained thawing
until Thursday. Kettle was the name of the Jesus College
cook who agreed to cook the three lambs and sheep all at once.
On Thursday afternoon I went to the kitchen at 4 p.m., and
saw them all being spitted, the joints being turned by the old
smoke jack. I told Kettle the sheep were from New Zealand,
but asked him not to tell anyone. Next day the men in the
Jesus first boat (then head of the river) were lunching with

A MISCELLANY

me, and I had two cold joints of Canterbury lamb on the table.
It was only natural that men in training should have two
helpings, but when one said, ' You will think me damned
greedy, Grigg, but the lamb is so good, I must ask for a third
lie 1 1 ting,' and another followed suit, I was delighted, and then
I told them the lamb was from New Zealand, much to their
surprise.

" Stephen Fairbairn, of Melbourne, was one of the
Mini, and he was very excited, as his father was chairman
of the first freezing company formed in Victoria. I wrote
at* once to my father to say how excellent the mutton
and lamb were, especially the latter, which was perfectly
sweet and good several days after leaving the freezing
chamber.

" After this first shipment I received letters from my father
expressing great confidence and hope in the future of the
frozen meat trade. My father with others in Canterbury at
once started to build freezing works at Belfast, after forming
a small farmers' company."

Flock Maintenance and Exports.

It is interesting to note that the export of frozen sheep and
lambs from Now Zealand, increasing steadily (the period
1903 — 1904 was the only exception) as it has from 1882 to the
present time, has not depleted the flocks of the Dominion ;
indeed, the frozen meat export has been accompanied by a
steady growth, from about 13,000,000 head of sheep in 1881
to about 20,000,000 in 1901, at which date New Zealand was
shipping 16 per cent, of her flocks to Great Britain in the form
of frozen sheep and lambs, a percentage which rose in 1903 to
24 permit. In 1903 — 1904 sheep fell in numbers, but an up ward
movement set in again in 1905, and has continued to the date
of the last official enumeration. In the United Kingdom, with
an area not very much more extensive than that of New
Zealand, there are 32,000,000 sheep, and the annual killing of
sheep and lambs is about 40 per cent., and of cattle 25 per cent.

284 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

So New Zealand's sheep stock will, no doubt, still further
increase. The following figures illustrate this paragraph : —

—

Sheep in New Zealand.

Frozen Mutton and Lambs
Exported.

Carcasses.

1886

16,565,000

656,000

1891

18,128,000

1,894,000

1901

20,233,000

3,234,000

1909

23,481,000

5,035,000

1910

24,269,620

5,407,000

The wonderful position of New Zealand to-day in the export
of frozen meat is due to the suitability of the land for sheep
breeding and the evenness and mildness of her climate. That
the Dominion can keep on exporting such a very large propor-
tion of its sheep, and still go on increasing the number of its
permanent flocks, is due to the high percentage of lambs
reared. Roughly speaking, the percentage of lambs reared
year after year is about 90 per cent. Many farmers in Canter-
bury rear 120 per cent., and in some cases still higher percen-
tages are recorded.

Enter Mr. Hooley.

An incident that may be mentioned here was the temporary
appearance of Mr. Ernest T. Hooley in the frozen meat trade
arena in 1897. On May 21 of that year, his solicitors, Messrs.
Ashwell and Tutin, issued a circular letter in which it was
stated that he was prepared to " form a combination," if
supported by the industry, with the object of placing the frozen
meat trade upon a satisfactory footing. His plan was to
amalgamate the freezing companies in Australasia, and he was
prepared to purchase the companies on the basis of the net
assets as per balance sheet plus a bonus equal to the aggregate
amount of dividends paid during the previous seven years.
A new company would be formed in London with a larger
capital than the aggregate values of the concerns taken over.
Mr. Hooley's idea was that the trade on this side lacked capital
and organization, and he thought a combine would improve

A MISCELLANY

market prices. Mr. Marshall Stevens, the late managing
director of the Manchester Ship Canal, worked out the details
of this proposal, which came to nought. The complexities
of the frozen meat business did not yield, as other problems
had done, to Mr. Hooley's magic touch.

A Cargo in Coffins.

A rat In •[• amusing but disastrous incident connected with
tin- early shipments of frozen meat in the New Zealand trade,
is toKl by Mr. Frank Coxon, the well-known Australian con-
sult ing engineer. The incident may be told in Mr. Coxon's own
words : "It occurred in connection with the sailing ship
Mataura, I think on her third voyage. She was sent to
Auckland to freeze and load a cargo of mutton at that port,
and the charterers of the frozen space were anxious to encourage
every local industry in their power, with the result that it
was decided that each carcass of mutton should be placed in
a Kauri box, or ' coffin,' as these receptacles were popularly
called on board, in lieu of the usual cotton bags. This was
carried out, and after considerable freezing had been done,
the captain, who was not satisfied with the appearance of
things, communicated with his owners, who at once sent me
to Auckland to look into matters. On examination of the
cargo, I condemned the system as being quite unsuitable, the
boxes entirely obstructing the circulation of the air round the
meat ; this I explained to the charterers, but they refused to
act on my advice, and the ship sailed for London. Needless to
say, the whole cargo had to be jettisoned at sea before its
destination was reached."

A Frozen Meat Cooking Recipe.

The following " directions for cooking New Zealand and
other fro/en mutton," issued by the New Zealand Loan and
Mercantile Agency Co. in the early eighties, shows that more
care was then taken in this important department of the trade
than is the case now. " Frozen meat, like English, improves
by hanging. The hindquarters will keep a week in cool

286 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

weather, the forequarters may be cooked sooner. As there is
a tendency for the juice to run from the mutton while thawing,
it should be hung in such a way as to check this. The hind-
quarter, haunch, and leg, should be hung by the flaps, the
knuckles hanging down, the loins and saddles also by the flaps,
giving them a horizontal position. This meat should not be
soaked in water for the purpose of thawing (as some suppose),
but hung in the larder or other dry, draughty place, and wiped
occasionally with a dry cloth in damp weather. Flour should
not be used, as it is apt to turn sour. When put down for
cooking, the chump part of the leg or loin should be exposed to
the fire, or hottest part of the oven, for a few minutes, to toast
the part cut and so seal it up, thus keeping the gravy in the
joint."

A Frigid Message.

The housewife who, about 1888, found pushed up alongside
the bone in a leg of mutton (which she had purchased as
English at 9dL a lb.), a piece of paper bearing this legend : —
" Where did you buy this leg, and what price did you pay ?
inform J. C., Ashburton, Christchurch, N.Z.," must have been
surprised.

Tallerman Enterprises.

Some interest attaches to the work done by Mr. Daniel
Tallerman in introducing Australian preserved meats at
cheap price during the times of scarcity that preceded the
Strathleven voyage. Mr. Tallerman arrived from Melbourne to
settle in London in 1868, bringing some packages of meat in
tallow with him. This meat was mild-cured, boned mutton,
enclosed in a linen envelope, and was rolled like sides of bacon.
It was packed in casks, and tallow was run round the meat.
This mutton carried well, and when chopped into mincemeat
and cooked with potatoes it made an appetizing, nutritious, and
economical dish, the potatoes absorbing the fat. At one time
there were 100 tons of the meat on hand in London. Mr.
Tallerman and his " Penny Dinners " at Norton Folgate were

A iMISCELLAM ."s7

famous from 1868 to 1872. The movement was initiated by a
gigantic banquet to 1,400 London working men and women at
the Lambeth Batha on December 1, 1869, at which many
Australians were present. The following is from Punch,
January 8, 1870 :—

" The French Emperor having expressed a desire to test
some of the Australian meat, which furnishes the penny
dinners in Norton Folgate, Mr. Tallerman, manager of the
Australian Meat Agency, at once submitted samples to the
Tuilerics. The Emperor, on the principle of fiat experimentum
in corpore vili, caused some of the meat to be cooked for the
soldiers on guard. Finding that they survived it, and even, like
Oliver Twist, asked for more, he ordered the same dish to be
set before the principal officers of the Imperial Household.
The officers, unlike the privates, shuddered, but ate, and to
their own amazement, relished ; and then the Emperor tried
it himself, pronounced it good, and expressed his gracious
intention of causing a more extended trial to be made — we
presume on the Empress and the entourage."

The British public were very much prejudiced against
preserved meat in any form owing to the disastrous outturn
of some shipments from South America of " charqui " (1866
to 1868). The Observer of October 31, 1868, spoke of " the
macerated caoutchouc-like lumps of charqui which earned the
execrations of the populace " ; Australian meat was popularly
termed " charqui " for some time.

Mr. Tallerman formed a company for each class of meat he
handled. The Norton Folgate campaign was conducted by
him at his own risk and expense. Later on he turned his
attention to tinned meats, which he showed at the Vienna
Exhibition of 1873. The Emperor of Austria tasted Australian
meat, and was so pleased with it that he made Mr. Tallerman
a " Hitter Kreitz " of the Order of Francis Joseph. Mr.
Tallerman acted in London for the French company which
financed M. Tellier's Frigorifiqite venture, and he imported
into Great Britain about 10 tons of the meat. The newspapers
from 1868 for ten years or so were full of Mr. Tallerman's
enterprises for introducing meat preserved in all sorts of ways.

288 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

In 1874 he took premises in Upper Thames Street, and fitted
up a patent refrigerator. In 1879 he opened up a retail
department for the selling of American dressed beef in one of
the arches of the railway ; Mr. Tallerman and the salesman in
charge (Mr. Burket) worked in co-operation. This is mentioned
on account of the enormous interest excited. Mr. Tallerman
declares that 50,000 people a week visited the premises, many
of whom purchased meat, and that £100 a week was paid in
tolls (%d. per lb.). A merry season of fourteen weeks was
experienced, in which £30,000 was taken. This enterprise,
however, was short lived, the salesman-partner left, the boom
collapsed, and the place was soon closed.

Frozen Meat Squibs.

An amusing hoax was perpetrated in the seventies on the
Press and public of Australia. It proceeded from the pen of a
well-known gentleman in Brisbane, who gravely described how
experiments had been successfully carried on at freezing works
in Sydney Harbour on a live lamb, which after having been
frozen hard under the influence of drugs had been unfrozen
again at the end of six months and thawed out alive (!) and,
with the exception of the tail, absolutely sound. (The tail
had been snapped off in the process.) This was cabled home
and created great commotion in interested circles, and a
leading London journal, carried away with the excitement,
devoted a leader to the subject. Allied to this yarn there was
current at the same period, say about 1875, at the squatters'
clubs in Queensland, the story that steps had been taken to
analyse the poison which the " mason wasp " — to temporarily
poison its victims — injects into the bodies of the spiders placed
in the nest in which the eggs of the wasp are sealed up.
(These clever insects, well known to all residents in Queensland,
stuff the bag charged with eggs and spiders into keyholes, gun-
barrels, etc., and then close up the apertures. When the
young wasps emerge from the eggs they break up the sac and
admit the air, whereupon the unfortunate spiders, which had
been in a condition of suspended life, revive, only to be

A MISCELLAM M>

devoured by the young wasps.) This suggested a lively squib,
directed at Mort and his work. When the mason wasp's
poison had been fixed, it was to be artificially manufactured
and injected into tlio bodies of cattle and sheep intended for
tin- Kiiuli-li market. After the animals had been treated, they
were to be placed in ships' holds and hermetically sealed up.
On docking at London, the inrush of air, following upon the
opening up of the chambers, would reanimate the stock, like
the mason wasp's spider victims, and, hey presto ! fat beeves
and plump woollies from Australia's plains would be soliciting
the custom of the English butcher.

F.M.

CHAPTER XX

THE DIETETICS OF FROZEN MEAT

THE dietetic value of frozen meat is really proved by the
fact that it is consumed and found perfectly acceptable by all
classes in Great Britain. But, possibly, its food- value may
not be completely represented by its popularity. Public
experience and scientific tests have long ago vindicated frozen
meat, so that when, for instance, in September, 1909, Mr.
Rowland Hunt in the House of Commons asked ironically if
the War Minister was aware that, according to a pamphlet
issued, experts consider that one pound of freshly-killed beef is
worth a stone of frozen meat, nothing more than an outrage
on common sense was perpetrated. Mr. (now Lord) Haldane
neatly countered by saying that " he was sure that the
hon. member had, without knowing it, flourished on frozen
meat." The Minister realized that to reply directly to
the query would be an insult to the intelligence of the
House of Commons ! It may be well, however, to bring
forward in this chapter conclusive evidence that frozen meat,
as to primeness of quality and excellence of condition, is
sound and sterling food ; that the processes through which
it has passed have caused no injury and deprived the meat
of none of its nourishing value. Further, there may be put on
record statements of practical men, and the results of scientists'
researches.

To begin at the beginning, on p. 98 are given some
particulars of the enormous sums paid by breeders in the
Argentine for pure-bred sheep and cattle imported from Great
Britain. The progeny of the rams and bulls purchased from
the pedigree flocks and herds of the British breeder have been
sent to England in the form of frozen meat. The object of the
South American buyer of these expensive animals was to

THE DIETETICS OF FROZEN MEAT '.MM

improve the native stock in the Republic BO that the dead
meat exported might be of unexceptionable quality. Without
forcing any comparison between the frozen meat imported into
Great Britain nml the home stock slaughtered for food, there
can be no doubt that, if it were possible to compare the frozen
and chilled meats marketed throughout England and Scotland
on a given day with home-fed meats of all grades, and strike
averages for quality, the imported meat would not be the
inferior. As in Argentina and Uruguay, so in Australia and
New Zealand, where the whole of the flocks and herds are of
Hritish blood. For many years past the stockmen in those
countries have been steadily buying pedigree sheep and, to a
lees extent, cattle, from English and Scotch breeders. The
Kent or Romney Marsh, Shropshire, Southdown, Hampshire
and Oxford Downs, Dorset Horn — numbers of rams from these
meat breeds are exported to Australasia yearly. What is the
meaning of all this ? Simply that in eating frozen meat we
are eating — to a great extent — just the same class and grades
of meat as we should order from English and Scotch grazing
districts. It would be a good thing if the Government of New
Zealand were to cause a circular to be sent to every house-
holder in England announcing the fact that the Kent or
Romney Marsh sheep exhibited by Mr. Ernest Short, of
Parorangi, New Zealand, at the Argentine 1910 Centenary
Show beat the British sheep of the same class and took
championship honours. This is the stock from which New
Zealand meat is bred !

Scientific Tests.

In previous chapters have been described the processes
through which the frozen meat passes from the time it leaves
the freezing works until it arrives at the English butcher's shop.
The experience of thirty years in conducting the trade has
eliminated all faulty methods and has established such a
smooth procedure that accidents and mischances in the
conveyance of the meat from point to point which would
with good condition are relatively rare, and if the

u li

292 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

treatment to which reference has several times been made,
viz., sufficient thawing out, is observed frozen meat ranks with
the best !

To revert a while and meet the objection of the critic who
says that freezing injures meat, the point might almost be
answered in general terms. Did the Beefsteak Club find that
the freezing process had spoiled the flavour of the Canterbury
wethers that pleased them so mightily ? Do the millions who
enjoy the tender frozen lambs find the pleasure to their palate
lessened owing to the carcasses having been subject to King
Frost for a couple of months or so ? But let us see what
scientific men say.

Back in 1896 the London journal the Hospital printed some
articles giving the results of certain quantitative cooking tests
made by Mr. Samuel Rideal, D.Sc. (Lond.), F.I.C., which tests
showed that frozen meat was digestible, nutritious, palatable,
and economical. This examination certainly has historical
interest, in view of its being undertaken for the purpose of
publicly dissipating current prejudices against frozen meat.
Under the direction of a clever practical cook, two legs of
mutton of nearly equal weight were baked for an equal length
of time in ovens equally heated. No. 1 was English grown and
killed and cost lOd. per Ib. ; No. 2 was the best New Zealand
frozen mutton, thawed at the butcher's, and sent in ready
for use. Two and a quarter hours were given to the baking,
and the following are the resultant figures :

English. New Zealand.

Ibs. ozs. Ibs. ozs.

Weight when delivered by the butcher 8 6 7 1-t

Weight when taken from the oven 515 513

Seven sub-tests were made as to weight of slices suitable for
hospital diet, bone and waste, gravy, etc., in all of which the
frozen joint held its own. "It is clear," wrote the Hospital,
" even from one experiment that the assertion that New
Zealand meat is essentially and invariably more wasteful than
English cannot be supported." Then the Hospital commis-
sioned Dr. Rideal to undertake tests concerning the nutritive

III! DILTETICS OP FROZEN MEAT

and digestible properties of frozen meat. The three kinds of
mutton selected for comparison were London-killed Scotch, at
lOd. per Ib. ; frozen Canterbury, at Sd. per Ib. ; and frozen
Australian, from merino sheep, at 4d. per Ib. In these
experiments the Australian and New Zealand mutton well
hold their own with the Scotch meat.

In 1897 Dr. Rideal made an exhaustive examination of
Queensland beef, comparing it with chilled American and
English ox beef. In view of the oft-repeated statement aa to
the effect of freezing upon meat, it is of importance to place
on record this sentence from the report : "In the micro-
scopical examination, the samples when thawed showed that
tlir meat fibres had not been ruptured or altered in any way
by the hard freezing process adopted by Queensland shippers."
Dr. Rideal continued : —

I can confidently assert that both with regard to digestibility and for the
preparation of soups or beef tea the hard frozen meat is of intrinsically the same
value as that which has been chilled or freshly killed.

The above quotation of a scientist's statement that freezing
has no injurious effect on the structure of the meat is neces-
sary in view of the fact that critics constantly assert that
t ha \\ing frozen meat acts on the fibre as does melting ice in
water pipes in a sudden thaw.

In 1007 Dr. Rideal made further analytical experiments to

mine the nutritive value of frozen and chilled Argentine

beef and of Australian lamb and mutton as compared with

English meat. Analysis of lean from samples of beef tested

gave the following percentages : —

-

BMfShin*.

BMfBUaks.

AI,-V MM

< h.'.: :.

Argentine

1 : •• ;•.

K-, ;'.-',.

ArmUM

. :.....!

AncmUM

1 :. .

!'•

Water ...

74-32

74-84

;-, ,;.-.

74-84

6147

Pat

1-27

0-88

1-11

9-18

.".">

13-04

Meat fibre extractives

and associated mine-

ral matter

21 11

24-28

.M .'.;

• t •

Total nitrogen

3-21

3-34

3-13

2-88

2-56

1-73

294 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

In testing for the comparative digestibility of steak the
following results were obtained : —

Argentine Chilled.
61-99

Argentine Frozen.
69-89

English.
63'78

the percentages of lean portions of meat available for digestive
purposes turning out in the three cases as follow : —

Argentine Chilled.
8i'4

Argentine Frozen.
85-3

English.
72-2

The housewife, who in the past has had preached to her such
tales as to the wasting qualities of imported meat on cooking,
might with profit study the following results of baking tests
made in the course of Dr. Rideal's investigations : —

-

Welsh
Lamb.

Australian
Lamb.

English
Mutton.

Australian
Mutton.

Ibs. ozs.

Ibs. ozs.

Ibs. ozs.

Ibs. ozs.

Weight when delivered ...

4 15

5 7fc

8 10

8 9

Weight when taken from

oven

4 2J

4 15

6 13J

6 7J

Weight of slices suitable

for hospital diet

2 13J

3 8J

4 -1J

4 6

Weight of bone and

waste

1 OJ

1 11

2 4

1 11

Pure bone

9

8J

1 2

13

Dripping

M

4|

HI

1 OJ

Gravy in dish after carv-

ing

l|

2

1

31

Gravy under dripping . .

*

J

1

Then as to its digestibility, the same authority arrived at
the following figures of percentages : —

Welsh
Lamb.

Australian
Lamb.

English
Mutton.

Australian
Mutton.

Water

58-55

57-65

57-79

57-32

Fat

4-11

6-62

7-53

9-68

Organic matter and associated mineral
matter... . ...

37-34

35-73

34-68

33-00

Percentage of nitrogenous organic
matter digested

19-91

15-25

18-20

12-48

The concluding remark of Dr. Rideal in his report as to this
close scrutiny of the value of refrigerated meat is that "It is
satisfactory to find the general opinion confirmed that no

Tin: Dll.Tl.riC8 OF FROZEN MK.vr

incipient decomposition or hydrolysis takes place under cold
storage ; while this further series of tests also fully supports
the favourable conclusions arrived at as the result of previous
experiments, by further illustrating the satisfactory food
values of frozen mutton and lamb." To sum up, the analyst,
in a paper read before the first International Refrigerating
Congress in Paris in 1008 said : " In a series of quantitative
cooking trials I found that the food value of frozen was
not less than that of fresh meat."

There is also solid material at hand in favour of frozen meat
in the highly technical paper of Mr. W. D. Richardson, chair*
man of the Chicago Section of the American Chemical Society,
delivered at the same Congress, on the subject of " The Cold
Storage of Beef and Poultry." This essay is illustrated by a
wealth of diagrams from photographs of meat substances
under freezing and thawing conditions. Changes in flesh foods
under cold storage were the problem, and the chief change
investigated was bacterial action. Experiments were made
on fresh and frozen beef knuckle ; the latter was observed up
to 554 days, and the conclusion the scientist came to was that
" frozen meat from 93 to 554 days old is in the same condition
bac tonally as meat from freshly slaughtered animals." This
is a high testimony to the preserving powers of refrigeration,
though, of course, the cost involved in prolonged cold storage
would of itself serve to ensure that the public meat supplies
are never submitted to such lengthy warehousing.

Two paragraphs may be quoted from this valuable paper : —

There are no fact* known at present which would militate against the porai-
bilitj of flesh preservation for an indefinite length of time under proper condition*
of Mange. Ottertag-Wilcox (Handbook of Meat Inspection, p. 824) says : " Cold
is unquestionably the best method of preserving meat. It causes no alteration in
the meat, either with regard to taate or nutritive value."

In conclusion, cold storage appears to be the best method of preservation of
flesh foods at present known to man, inasmuch as it modifies to a less extent the
appearance and quality of the product than do other methods. That improvement*
may be and will be introduced into cold storage practice must be admitted, but
that in principle cold storage prevents or inhibits to a large extent the forces of
deterioration, chemical and biochemical, cannot be denied. It is a satisfactory,
efficient and safe means of preservation of flesh foods for long periods of time.

Another endorsement of the fact that the nutritive matter
is identical in home grown and frozen mutton has been made

296 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

by Professor James Long in the record of the results of a test
which he undertook a few years ago at the request of the War
Office. To make his test Professor Long took thirty legs of
wether mutton, Scotch, English, New Zealand, Argentine, and
Australian, and the following extract may be made from his
report : —

If we make a general comparison between the home-grown and the imported
mutton we obtain the following results, which represent the average of the
fifteen joints : —

Home-grown Mutton :

Real Nutritive Matter

Average Weight (Fat and Lean)

per joint. Water devoid of moisture.

Ibs. ozs. Per cent. Per cent.

10 7 43-78 40-53

Imported Mutton :

8 8 46-17 39-37

Practically speaking, the real nutritive matter present in each lot of meat, the
home-grown and the imported, was identical, for the difference was but slightly
more than 1 per cent. The quantity of meat in its moist condition was actually
higher in the imported than in the home-grown legs of mutton, but the fat, which
counts materially owing to its useful feeding properties, told in favour of the
British meat, although a large proportion is invariably wasted.

These favourable verdicts, from persons so competent to
pass them, make out a very excellent case for frozen meat,
well worth the attention of the British public and the peoples
of Continental countries. Indeed, the whole of this volume,
when carefully epitomized, yields testimony, beyond question,
not only of the dietetic value of the supplies of frozen and
chilled meat which arrive at the ports of Great Britain, but
also, speaking generally, of the enormous benefit to a nation
engaged in industrial activities which these supplies confer, in
being regular, skilfully handled, cheap, and, as to quality and
soundness, guaranteed by Government veterinary certificate at
the country of production, and by the examination of the
inspectors of the Medical Officers of Health at the ports of
importation.

Further tests made by English and foreign scientists of the
dietetic value of frozen meat might be cited in this chapter,
and additional evidence leading to a favourable conclusion of
the frozen meat case would not be difficult to bring forward.
But the authors think that enough has been written, bearing

TIM: nil .ll. TICS OF ru«»/KN MEAT

in mind that the general public of Great Britain have voted
for frozen meat in an unmistakable manner, viz., by con-
suming 5,664,000 tons of frozen mutton and beef in the
thirty-one yean covered by the duration of the trade, 1880
to 1910.

The Testimony of Medical Officers of Health.

The reports issued by the Medical Officers of Health for
tin city of London and the Port of London (Dr. W. Colling-
ridge and Dr. Herbert Williams) teem with statements
testifying to the excellence of the imported frozen meats.

In looking through the Annual Reports of these Medical
Officers one sees numerous references to the fine quality of
frozen meat passing under the observation of their officials.
The following is an extract from Dr. Williams'* Annual
Report for 1906 :—

" The arrangements for keeping the meat at a low temperature bare been much
improred, and it is only occasionally, when some defect in these arrangement*
occurs, that the meat on examination is found to be unsound. The bulk of the
meat arrives in first-class condition, as is shown by the fact that only 4,279
carcasses of mutton and 844 quarters of beef (out of a total of 8,799,892 csrcMSM
1 ."> quarters) have been found unfit for food during the year as a result
of unsoundncfls,* and *»t a tingle carctu* Kan bee* $eizfd on account of ditto*.
• /.'., dam&g* caoMd by accident* during tnuuit.

The Medical Officers of Health have had occasion to find fault
as well as to give praise. In their Reports for 1910 and P.H 1
tin Y had to draw attention to a serious blemish in Australian
frozen beef. The Commonwealth Government thereupon took
measures, in the shape- of a more organized inspection system,
to meet the difficulty and remove the Medical Officers' cause
of complaint.

The fact that Tommy Atkins abroad and at home is wholly
or in part fed on frozen meat, and flourishes on the diet, is an
excellent testimony to the sound quality of the fare. In this
• •ction it should be mentioned that there is on record a
statement made by the chief of the United States Commissariat
at Manila that the American troops in the Philippines have
found the Queensland frozen beef of first-class quality, suitable
for keeping up the fighting power of men. And he ought to
know, for he has bought a lot of it ! As for the general utility

238 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

of frozen meat as a war supply, a leading witness before the
Royal Commission on the South African War said of cold
storage that it " saved South Africa."

The Sound Quality of Imports.

Referring to the position of frozen meat on Smithfield
Market, a well-known figure there has remarked : " The trade
has now reached such a point that it is really difficult to
conceive what our position would be were it not for frozen
meat." The same suggestion occurs with more force with
regard to the public. What would happen if there were no
frozen and chilled meat to be had ? The benefits of refrigera-
tion have penetrated into all the conditions of life. Travellers
recollect down to the eighties the wretched stock and miserable
fowls carried on board steamers to supply fresh meat for
passengers. Since frozen meat came along, the mail steamer
is provisioned as easily and as well as the hotel.

If it may be stated that the vegetarian restaurant of our
towns — the first of any size was that opened in Queen Street,
Cheapside, London, in 1882 — was, broadly speaking, a protest
against meat scarcity and dearness, it may also be said that
such food purveying institutions have probably been robbed
of full development by the advent of cheap frozen meats.
Though vegetarianism has its advocates, there is undoubtedly
a consensus of scientific opinion that a generous meat diet
is necessary for the hard worker.

CHAPTER XXI

WHAT THE TRADE HAS DOME FOB AUSTRALIA

(Specially Contributed by Air. John Cookt, of Australia.}

IT would bo freely conceded by most that no man is in a
r position to say what the frozen meat industry has
meant to Australia than Mr. John Cooke, senior partner of the
firm of John Cooke and Co., Australia. Mr. Cooke has contri-
buted the following lines concerning the part which the
frozen meat trade has played in developing the resources of
Australia :

" Prior to the introduction of refrigeration in the preservation
and transport of fresh meat, the only methods of disposing
of the surplus sheep and cattle produced in Australia were : —

(a) Preserving and packing mutton and beef in cans ;

(6) Boiling down the carcasses for their tallow.

" Neither of these methods offered much encouragement to

k producers to increase their flocks and herds, as the

returns from canned meat were frequently very trifling, while

those obtained from tallow refining were small, after providing

for the cost of manufacture, casks, etc.

" The- values ruling for sheep almost entirely depended on
their fleeces, the carcass on average representing very little
indeed in the price. In the same way the value of any bullock
or cow outside the category of a fat beast fit for local consump-
tion depended entirely on the hide and the tallow that could
be extracted through the digester. There was accordingly
little to stimulate station owners to improve their holdings
or increase their flocks and herds, seeing that they could never
reckon on getting a profitable market for their surplus stock
when these were ready for market or when they wanted to
dispose of them. Likely enough a dry spell would intervene

300 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

when they were overstocked, and, having no profitable outlet
whatever, they had simply to look on while their stock gradually
disappeared. These conditions made stock-raising in Australia
a very precarious proposition, and greatly retarded that
development which the magnificent lands and healthy and
genial climatic conditions ought to have brought about.
There have been occasions when prices for sheep were so low
that they were sold by the score instead of per head.

" The frozen meat export trade has changed all that, and
has proved to be by far the most potent factor in the growth
and prosperity of Australia during the past twenty years.
The waste lands of the Crown have not only been rendered
more valuable per se, but lessees have been encouraged to
expend money in improvements, thus increasing the carrying
capacity of their runs, and converting what might have become
rabbit warrens or barren plains into wool- and meat-producing
properties. All owners of rural land, whether of 100 or 100,000
acres, have had a permanent and increasing value placed upon
their holdings owing to the fact that the stock they raised has
had established for it a profitable minimum value. Land-
owners have accordingly been enabled to improve their holdings
by fencing, water conservation, and cultivation, and further-
more, they have felt justified in spending money in the way of
introducing improved strains of blood into their flocks and
herds.

" It will be manifest that all classes of live stock, whether
stores or fats, have benefited by the export of fat carcass
meat; in fact, in many cases prices obtainable for store sheep
and cattle have approximated, and, indeed, occasionally even
equalled, those for prime slaughter animals.

" The long and terrible drought which culminated in 1902
and brought the total sheep stock of Australia from about
ninety-eight down to about fifty-four millions, and cattle from
about twelve down to seven millions, temporarily checked
the export of frozen meat, and it is hardly necessary to point
out that had that export industry not been maintained and
extended, it would have been utterly impossible during the brief
period of seven years to have restored the numbers of sheep

\\ H \T I Hi: THADE HAS DONE FOR AUSTRALIA 901

lose upon 100,000,000 in 1910, the world's high water mark
istoral activity. No more striking proof is needed of the
enormous advantages accruing to Australia from this industry,
and it is all the more extraordinary when it is realized that
rabbits and other scourges have been prevalent during the
last decade.

Lilian woolgrowers have reason to be very thankful
to im-ut i-xporU-rs for tlu> scrurity it affords thrm to know that
in meeting the ever-increasing demands for wool they possess
two strings to their bow instead of one. Had it not been for
the enterprise of the freezing companies, the sheep farmer
would hardly have dared to enlarge his flocks so materially,
and he would thus have missed the splendid market for wool
which he has enjoyed on his increased output for several
years past.

" The enormously increased employment directly arising
from this trade, to station hands, butchers, freezing works
labourers, fellmongers, tanners, wharf lumpers, and others,
has been a factor of much importance in every State of
Australia ; while the indirect advantages to all local traders and
manufacturers have been incalculable.

" The Government railways have reason to regard refrigera-
tion as a source of great income to them, the transport of live
stock by rail having enormously developed since its inception,
while the carriage of frozen meat and the various by-products
has also produced large revenues for the various States. No
interest has realized, and benefited by, the growth of this
frozen meat trade more than shipping, and one has only to
turn to the expansion in the number and size of ocean steam-
ships now trading with Australian ports to judge of the vast
impetus that has accrued thereby to Australian production.
A i i.l t he cry is still for further refrigerated tonnage.

4 The phenomenal increase in the export of dairy produce
rind fruit would not have occurred but for the facilities for
effective transport initiated and mainly supported by the meat
trade, and m this sense alone the amount of profitable labour
that has been rendered possible can hardly be overstated.
Further, while the exports of mutton and lamb have been

302 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

the mainstay of the industry, the quantity of frozen beef
shipped abroad has been steadily extending, and would have
been much greater but for the long drought that ended about
seven years ago. It can readily be understood that the
restoration of herds of cattle takes a much longer period than
the recovery of flocks of sheep.

" The commendable schemes of immigration now being so
energetically promoted by all Australian States have manifestly
been made much more practicable through the advertisement
given to Australia by the ever-increasing distribution of
Australian meat through the length and breadth of the United
Kingdom.

" Other localities have taken their part in the trade, notably
South Africa, the Philippine Islands, the Mediterranean ports,
and it is not difficult to foresee that all the great European
countries — France, Germany, Austria, etc. — must follow the
examples of Italy and Switzerland, and, by admitting frozen
meat free from impossible conditions and on a moderate scale
of customs duties, enable their citizens to obtain wholesome
meat at prices within their means."

THK Ul'.Ml ll"\. -ll: .n.M:i'll 01
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• >K M u n \I.\M-. }'.»»', I'.'li'.

ME. IIKRBBKT OIMOK.

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Ta/*t* f. 30J.

CHAPTER XXH
NEW ZEALAND'S GAIN FROM FROZEN MEAT

(Specially Contributed by the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Ward, P.O., O.C.M.O.,
Prime Afinitter of New Zealand, 1906 — 1912.)

THE experiments in the oversea carriage of meat in a frozen
state were eagerly watched in New Zealand. In 1880 the
pastoral interests of the Colony had reached a crisis. The
flocks and herds had increased to numbers which provided
meat in quantity far beyond the requirements of the Colony,
while a greater revenue than that which was derived from
wool, tallow, skins, and hides was required. The only forms
in which the meat could be exported were preserved meat and
tallow, and the market for the former was glutted, so that the
boiling-down for the tallow was the only outlet for the surplus
stock. The situation was intensified by the decline in the
price of wool which set in about that time, and by several
successive harvests being damaged by bad weather. The
problem of profitably using not only the pastoral but also the
agricultural lands of the Colony was one of vital importance,
and means by which the surplus meat would be given a reliable
market value were looked to as the only hope of restoring the
agricultural and pastoral industries to a position of stability.
When reports were received of the success of the initial frozen
meat shipments from Australia to London, steps were at once
talmn to enter into the new trade thus opened. Before the
close of the year 1880 preliminary action had been taken to
form companies to embark in the refrigerating industry (the
potentialities of which in regard to dairy produce as well as to
meat were recognized later on), and early in the year 1882 the
first shipment of frozen meat was despatched from New Zealand
to London. The enterprise was crowned with success, and

304 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

quickly every pastoral and agricultural district in the Colony
entered into the trade, which has expanded to a volume
exceeded in value only by wool, and which has not nearly
reached its limits. This expansion has, no doubt, been greatly
assisted by the popularity which New Zealand meat has gained
owing to the efficient system of inspection by which the freedom
from disease of all exported meat is assured.

From the beginning in 1882 with a small shipment, slaugh-
tered on land and frozen in the hold of the carrying ship (a
sailing vessel), the trade has grown by 1910 to the following
dimensions : —

No. of meat freezing works in operation, 1911 31

Daily slaughtering and freezing capacity in sheep carcasses, 1911 82,000
Cold storage capacity, sheep carcasses, 1911 ... 1,860,000

EXPORTS, 1910 :—

Tons.

Mutton, carcasses 1,997,633 ... Weight 48,930

„ legs and pieces ... ... ... „ 2,587

Lamb, carcasses 3,515,001 ... „ 53,645

Beef, quarters ... 26,926

Total meat „ 132,088

Babbits (number) 3,138,888. Total value (export), £3,883,065.

In addition, meat preserving is an adjunct to most of the
meat freezing works, and adds considerably to the volume
and value of the output.

The value of the land, buildings, machinery, and plant
employed in the trade is approximately £1,625,000 ; the
number of hands employed, 3,250 ; and the wages paid in
the year 1910, £325,000.

When the question of entering upon the export of frozen
meat was under consideration, it was held that if Id. per Ib.
net could be realized by growers for their mutton, the pros-
perity of the pastoral industry would be assured ; the average
prices actually realized have generally ranged from 2%d. to
3d. per Ib. for mutton, 3£d. to 4d. for lamb, and 2d. for beef,
besides the value of the skins, hides and fat.

The success of the frozen meat trade has been reflected in
the rapid progress and great prosperity of the Dominion.
This is to some extent shown in the following comparative

NEW ZEALAND'S GAIN FROM FROZEN MEAT 305

official figures, though the progress is not entirely due to the
frozen meat trade, but is largely contributed to by the kindred
industry of dairying : —

Population 1880 484,864 1911 1,057,818

Capital Yalne of land in New Zealand 1882 £101,000,000 1910 £277,830,088

Land in cultivation, area 1880 4,768,192 1908 15,679,943

No. of cultivated holdings „ 24,147 1908 75,162

Exports „ £6,102,300 1910 £21,758,551

No. of shoep in the Dominion ... 1881 12,985,085 1911 23.'.

No. of cattle „ 698,637 1911 2,020,171

From the inception of the trade in 1882 to December 31,
1910, there were exported from New Zealand 71,000,000
carcasses of mutton and lamb, besides millions of legs of
mutton, notwithstanding which immense drain the number of
sheep in the Dominion has in the same period nearly doubled.

The frozen meat trade has revolutionized agriculture in New
Zealand. It has greatly increased the value of land and has
caused the adoption of improved systems of farming and more
thorough cultivation, though the capabilities of the land for
production have not yet been more than very partially exploited.
The imperfect results already obtained have demonstrated
that New Zealand has a capability of production surpassing,
area for area, that of any other country in the world, and
requiring only population, skill, and energy to develop it. The
trade, supplemented by dairying, bore the chief share in rescuing
the country from depression, and enabling settlement to be
promoted, with the result of a vast increase in production and
also in the national wealth; and the improvement in the methods
of farming has restored the fertility of a large quantity of land
which had been exhausted by repeated cropping, and has
increased the fertility of large areas which were previously
considered to be not worth cultivating. Above all, the pastoral
and agricultural industries of the Dominion have never before
been in such a sound position as at the present time.

P.M.

CHAPTER XXIII
ARGENTINA'S DEBT TO REFRIGERATION

(Specially Contributed by Mr. Herbert Gibson.)

IT is not easy, even for those whose memory carries them
back a generation or so, to step out from the throb and bustle
of the great Argentine freezing factories, from the flocks of
comely sheep of typical breeds, from the great paddocks in
that mighty zone of twelve million acres of alfalfa where herd
after herd of sleek Shorthorns graze, from the whole panorama
of this modern pastoral industry, and to see things as they were
when in 1877 the steamships Frigorifique and Paraguay
received in their chilled holds the first consignment of River
Plate fresh meat to be conveyed to Europe.

It is not, after all, so long ago. Men who still like to believe
themselves young can talk of their stockbreeding experiences
of those days. Wire fencing had scarcely yet come into
general use and most of the live stock was herded and rounded
up in open country. The water was drawn from the wells in
a rude sleeve made from an ox hide. The thatch and wattle
of the stockman's hut were bound with raw leather thongs,
and often as not a horse-hide did service for a door. Cattle
were unimproved. Here and there progressive breeders such
as Juan Fernandez, Pereyra, Lezama, and others, had intro-
duced Shorthorn blood to their herds, but the merits of English
cattle encountered opposition. Their hides were too thin, and
the hide on the ox's back constituted in those days half its
sale value. Their flesh was too deep and fat to take the salt
properly, and salted sun-dried charqui beef was the sole meat
export. They wanted, too, more feeding than the hardy
thick-skinned Creole bullocks. So breeders would have none
of these sleek roan and red English beasts, and the bulls bred
from them were unsaleable except to a most limited circle of

\K(,I \ - ni'.HT TO IM.IKK, I RATION 307

stockmen. The great majority preferred to go on producing
six-year-old hide-bound bullocks sure of sale to the saladero
where only a heavy skin and a good salting flesh were required.

The sheep, with few exceptions, were merinos of varying
grades of quality. Some breeders, mostly Englishmen, had
imported Lincolns to their flocks. Their carcasses gave a
better return to the tallow boilers. Wool, tallow, and skin
\M TO all that sheep were there for.

Of course, those were the good old days. Every middle-aged
man since Adam has said that. But the concern of the world
is more with the welfare of the community than the joie de
vivre of the individual. If that welfare is to be gauged by the
pastoral wealth and revenue of the Argentine Republic then
and now, it is as little difficult to find progress as to find the
principal cause to which that progress is due. The following
brief statement establishes the former : —

Cattle ...

1877.

1008.

Numbers.

Value.

Numbers.

Value.

14,160,134
59,226,300

2,388,100

£18,340,686
17,898,740

29,116,625
67,211,754

6,484,000

£82,604,353

1T..287,698

Sheep ...

Total
Exportation

(1 IH'C

of animal pro-

£36,239,426

£107,891.951

£8,586,289
25/6

'23,691
66/6
7/6

Official valuation per cow ...
.1 ii it Hheep...
Copulation of Argentine

While cattle have doubled in numbers since 1877, and sheep
have increased 13 per cent., their total local value has increased
threefold ; and the revenue they produce, after supplying the
local requirements of a population nigh three times as great
as in 1877, has also increased threefold.

Now, this has not been brought about because ox hides and
beef tallow have risen in value, or because wool and sheep-
skins and mutton tallow have risen in value. The augmentation

x 2

308 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

in Argentina's pastoral wealth and revenue is due, and is
wholly and solely due, to the applied science of conveying
overseas in a frozen or chilled condition fresh meat for European
consumption. The improvement in the quality of the Argen-
tine flocks and herds, the advancement achieved hi pastoral
methods and in laying down alfalfa and other permanent
pastures, have been in response to the demand created by the
refrigerated meat trade, and have only been made possible by
the increased revenue that trade has brought. Progress has
been attained, of course, in the general economy of the stock
farm. In 1877 every 100,000 sheep produced 158 tons of wool,
and in 1908 the same number produced 248 tons of wool.
Wool still constitutes 40 per cent, of Argentina's total export
of animal produce. But in 1877 the total value of meat exports
from Argentina, being charqui and meat extracts, amounted to
£480,000 ; and in 1908 the total value of meat exports, being
frozen mutton and lamb, frozen and chilled beef, preserved
meat charqui and meat extracts, amounted to £5,570,000. To
this important sum charqui contributed £154,564 ! There is,
therefore, sufficient evidence in the foregoing to justify the
conclusion that the frozen meat trade has added four-and-a-
half to five millions sterling per annum to the Argentine
pastoral industry. Since the first shipment of frozen beef in
1877 the cattle stock of the country has doubled and the
pastoral revenue has trebled, and the difference between the
ratio of progress in revenue as compared to that in numbers
must be credited to the business of refrigerating meat.

So far back as 1867 patents were granted by the Argentine
Government for methods of preserving meat. Mysterious
enough some of them were, as, for example, one whose sole
ingredient was the oil of grape seeds. Another is somewhat
vaguely described as " an application of heat or cold." In
October of 1877 we find the first record of the refrigerating art.
Mr. C. Tellier obtains a patent for the desiccation of meat at
a temperature of zero by the application of methylic ether.
Immediately following the name of this great pioneer in the
refrigerating art comes another patent, granted in July, 1878,
for freezing meat by means of sal ammoniac in a vessel or

ARGENTINA'S DEBT TO REFRIGERATION 809

chamber with a temperature below zero. There is no need
to follow the records further. The definition of the art of
refrigerating meat had arrived.

lit these experimental stages the cattle were slaughtered at
the saladero of Don Eugenio Terrason, and the meat was laden
in t he < hilled hold of the steamers at the mole-head of the port
of San Nicolas, a town on the River Parana, between Buenos
Air. s and Rosario. Success did not attend these first ventures.
The oft-told tale of the difficulties attending the crude freezing
of beef need not here be repeated. Mr. Terrason constructed
here his first freezing establishment in 1884. It was subse-
quently rented by the then three other River Plate freezing
companies in order to shut it down, and its ruins by the side
of the old landing stage of San Nicolas are a monument to the
disaster that awaits the first pioneers in every industry.

In 1882 Messrs. Drabble founded at Cain pan a the River
Plate Fresh Meat Co., and a year later near Buenos Aires
and on the banks of the Riachuelo Messrs. Sansinena and Sons
erected what became at once, and has since continued to be,
the most successful of all the freezing factories in the Republic.
In 1892 Messrs. J. Nelson and Sons constructed at Zarate their
Las Palmas Produce Co. ; and ten years later, following
upon the closure of the British ports to Argentine live stock,
and the spurt given to the meat trade by affairs in South
Africa, there arose in rapid succession the four more freezing
companies that, together with the three existing previously,
represent the total trade of the Republic in that industry.
Their total capital amounts to £3,160,000, and they employ
over 7,000 men in the works and yards.

The prominent place occupied by the Argentine in the
British meat trade is one from which it is not likely to be
displaced. Argentine flockmasters have experienced three
years of drought, and the drought has been severest in the
South where the sheepbreeding industry is still the predominant
one. The effects of this drought will be most in evidence in
the coming year, when supplies will fall short, but the shortage
will not remain a permanent feature, nor is local consumption
likely to overtake production in the visible future. Argentine

310 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

breeders are giving more attention to the lamb trade, and new
breeds of sheep are being introduced for that purpose.

The production of chilled beef will further expand. It is
already three times as great as the production of frozen mutton,
and it cannot fail to increase, for all three factors, the breeder,
the freezer, and the consumer, are profiting by it. If the freezer
has encouraged the estanciero, by buying his steers at prices
unheard of in the live-stock export days, the estanciero has
nobly responded to the call. There are already twelve million
acres of alfalfa in the country and the area is rapidly increasing.
England has been drawn upon for her best cattle (and has,
incidentally, profited much thereby), and large sums have been
expended to secure good blood. There are over 50,000 pure
pedigree cattle now in the Argentine Herd Book. In the rural
census of last year more than half of the total number of cattle
were returned as improved, that is, of an approximately pure
type of the English breeds, and principally by the Shorthorn.

There is abundant land both for breeding and feeding more
cattle. It is sometimes said of the Argentine that agriculture
is displacing cattle breeding, and sometimes the reverse is
stated, that cattle breeding is ousting agriculture. Neither
statement is true. They are component factors, sharing
between them the process of occupying the West where formerly
neither wheat nor alfalfa grew, but where a thin sprinkling of
Creole cattle eked out a starving existence on the unwilling
native herbage. Not one-fifth of that country has yet been
called into productivity either for agriculture or cattle raising.
" Visible supplies " there may be, but the limits to increasing
those supplies are not yet visible.

With the necessary material beside him, the land, the plough,
the herd, and the willing market at his door, it would indeed
be strange if the Argentine cattle breeder relaxed his energy
and cried " Enough ! " In 1877, when Don Eugenic Terrason
shipped the first frozen beef at San Nicolas, a prime five-year-
old bullock was worth to him in his saladero £4. This is what
he could pay to turn the beast into charqui and tallow and
salted ox hide. In this present year of grace the freezing
factories have been paying the Argentine breeders £16 for

\H(iI NTINA'S DEBT TO REFRIGERATION 311

prime three-year-old bullocks. If in doing BO the freezers have
made a profit, God yield them well of it ! They have very
materially enhanced the value of Argentine land and the grass
that grows on it. They have put a bridge over seven thousand
miles of ocean and brought consumer and producer within
speaking distance of one another.

The United States with local demand outstripping their
production of meat have already resorted to the River Plate to
strengthen their supplies. In the fulness of time the Argentine,
too, must cease to export meat. Before that stage is reached,
before, indeed, the cattle land is fully occupied, the Argentine
people will have learnt to economize in their own consumption
of meat. The present consumption is enormous with relation
to the population. It is probably over 500,000 tons of meat
per annum, or, say, 200 Ibs. per capita. Agriculture is still
a new thing in the Republic, and though the country exports
over two million tons of wheat, the Argentines have not yet
become great bread eaters. Vegetables, poultry, and other
items of food, are insufficiently produced. The Argentine
cuisine would be described in Europe as an extravagant one.
All this must change ; is already changing. Since the freezing
trade has made the storage and overseas conveyance of fresh
meat possible, foreign and local prices have come closer
to one another. The days are long since past when beef was
sold by the piece and mutton by the carcass. A pound of
prime steak costs as much in Buenos Aires as it does in London.
It is not because prime beef is scarce, it is because the British
consumer through the medium of the freezer buys his meat in
the Argentine market.

But though the Argentine increases its production and
economizes in its local consumption per capita, the increase of
population will ultimately overtake the former. The greater
part of the territory of the Republic is good agricultural soil,
capable of sustaining a dense rural population. Progressing as
it has done hitherto, the Argentine will have a population of
nearly thirty millions by the middle of this century. By that
time it will have ceased to produce meat in excess of its own
requirements, and it will have commenced to draw on Paraguay

SI 2 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

and southern Brazil for its supplies. But there is no particular
occasion to discount so remote a future. Suffice it that in
the meantime there is yet abundant room southwards, as far
as the Straits of Magellan, for the country's flocks to multiply ;
sufficient room in the farther west, in her northern territories
and beyond their boundaries, in the rich pasture lands of the
Paraguayan Chaco, and in the great cattle country of southern
Brazil, to breed far more cattle than at present exist ; and
sufficient room in the core of the country to graze on the alfalfa
lands and to grow on the wheat lands enough beef and enough
corn to supply, even beyond the lives of the young generation,
the demand of her foreign markets.

No doubt, too, there will still be then gentlemen who write
articles. They will tell kindly of the good old days when,
upon what have become the homesteads of the small farmer,
there were paddocks of alfalfa each of which ran into thousands
of acres ; how in these paddocks there grazed herds of Short-
horn cattle to supply the export trade of chilled beef which at
that time was one of the most important industries of the
Republic ; and how, even as in pre-historic times Don
Eugenio Terrason loaded fresh beef in the chilled holds of
steamers at the mole-head of San Nicolas, there were men who
foresaw and worked for a new order of things in rural economy,
and how sometimes the failure of the individual showed the
way to the success of the collectivity. Forsitan et nostrum
nomen miscebitur istis.

CHAPTER XXIV

HOW THE BRITISH PUBLIC HAS BENEFITED

WHEN the mutual relations that exist between the great
frozen meat industry and the many classes of traders engaged
in its maintenance have been considered, there yet remains to
be surveyed the effect of the trade upon the one great class
on whose behalf it had its inception and upon whose custom
its future rests. The public, and pre-eminently the British
public, stands after all to gain most from the frozen meat
trade, that is, if the 8,283,000 tons of frozen and chilled
meat imported into the British Isles from 1874 to 1910 have
advanced the physical welfare of the nation.

How has the community been affected ? The opening
chapter of this book dealt with the crisis of meat scarcity which
culminated in the seventies, and the efforts of scientific men
to meet it. A survey of ancient and modern history shows
that nations eat meat according to their wealth, if this be not
stating cause for effect. Conversely, John Bull without his roast
beef would have made but a poor show during the last thirty
years. He became unable to provide sufficient meat for himself
when he became a manufacturer, and so it has come about that
Britain in the Southern Seas and the Americas have had to
turn wholesale meat suppliers for his benefit. The United
States of America have furnished the expensive joints of beef
for the tables of the well-to-do, and, not without refrigeration's
aid, Australia, New Zealand, and Argentina did more than
that. They have provided the meat food required by the
great body of workers in city and town. The manufacturers
upon whom the wealth and industrial fame of England and
Scotland rest owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the
pioneers of the frozen meat trade, by whose efforts their work-
people have been able to get plenty of sound and cheap meat.
When frozen meat was first introduced, there was great scarcity

314 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

of fresh meat at reasonable prices in Lancashire and Yorkshire
and in the cotton districts generally. It was frequently a
matter of meat once a week ; now it is meat twice a day.
The question remains, could the strain of modern industry
be borne on the former allowance ? Taking the beginning
of the industrial era in the United Kingdom as coincident
with the middle of the nineteenth century, the following
figures, supplied by Mulhall,* of the average price of "meat "
— beef, mutton, and pork — for the quinquennia mentioned
show clearly how prices rose as population increased, and as
fresh meat became a more recognized article of diet : —
1851—1855, 6fd. perlb. ; 1856—1860, 6fd. ; 1861—1865, 6fd. ;
1866—1870, l^d. ; 1871—1875, 8fd. ; 1876—1881, 8|d.

Now even in the rural districts the peripatetic meat man
has his beat, districts which fifty years ago furnished nothing
better to the agricultural population than a bread and cheese
diet, with bacon as a luxury, and an occasional joint of
butcher's meat to mark a red letter day. Then take the
position of the professional and middle classes. When English
and Scotch meat would not go round, what a struggle was
that of people with small incomes and large families (a not
uncommon association thirty and forty years ago) in battling
with their butchers !

The position at the beginning of the eighties was indeed
serious, with the English meat crop equal to the supply for no
more than seven-and-a-half months of the year. The statistical
writers of the period were keenly concerned in the problem.
Mulhall, after the success of the Dunedin shipment was assured,
pointed out in his pamphlet, referred to above, that the farms
of Otago and Canterbury could send sheep to the London
market more easily than could the Tweed farmers 100 years
ago (1782), when meat was selling at Id. per Ib. in Scotland and
IQd. in London. When statisticians forsake the past and
present for the future, even a Mulhall may make mistakes ;
here is an extract from the pamphlet : " We may expect in
1896 a population of 42 to 43 millions, and to feed our people

* England's New Sheep Farm ; pamphlet, published in 1882.

HOW THE BHITMI 1M HLIC HAS BENEFITED 315

tOr tive months in the year we shall then import over 1,000,000
tons of meat, the bulk of which must necessarily come from
the Australasian Colonies " ! In 1896 the population was
39} millions ; only 485,000 tons of mutton and beef (including
live cattle) were imported, and out of the 87*3 Ibs. of beef and
mutton consumed per head of population, 59*9 Ibs. were
produced— equal to eight months' supply — by home farmers,
and five-sixths of the imports came from the United States.
Mr. Mulhall also wrote : " Twenty years hence New Zealand
will have more sheep than Great Britain " ; the flocks of the
Dominion in 1902 were about 20i millions against 25£ millions
in Great Britain.

Popularizing Frozen Meat.

A notable event in the campaign to establish the frozen
mutton trade from New Zealand occurred in 1891, when the late
Earl of Onslow, then Governor of the Colony, did much good
by despatching six prime Canterbury wether sheep to certain
gentlemen in London for their report. Lord Onslow's desire
was to find out if the difference in price of English and New
Zealand frozen mutton could be accounted for by a relative
difference in the quality of the two kinds, and the experiment
was an excellent advertisement for New Zealand mutton.
Lord Onslow, by request, himself described this interesting
experiment. His words, written especially for these pages,
are as follow : —

" So far as my records go, it was in the year 1891 that I
sent some carcasses of sheep, which had been especially selected
by Mr. John Grigg and Sir John Hall, as four- and five-year-old
cross between merino and Down, to Messrs. Fitter, with injunc-
tions to specially thaw and deliver them to certain gentlemen
whom I knew I could rely upon to give me an unbiassed
expression of opinion as to their fitness for the table. Those
were the late Baron Henry de Worms, afterwards Lord Pir-
bright, Lord Rosebery, the late Sir Augustus Harris, then
Sheriff of London and manager of Drury Lane Theatre, who
used to entertain very largely at the theatre aftor the
performances, the late Sir Henry de Bathe, who was chairman

316 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

of the House Committee of the Beefsteak Club, the late Sir
Morell Mackenzie, and M. Waddington, the French Ambassador
in London. The other members of the Beefsteak Club who
reported upon the mutton were Mr. Corney Grain, Sir Francis
Burnand, Sir Squire Bancroft, and Mr. George Augustus
Sala. All of them reported very favourably on the experiment,
and I believe those interested in the trade in New Zealand
made use of the reports for the purpose of recommending New
Zealand meat."

All these connoisseurs pronounced in most enthusiastic
terms on the mutton's merits. Baron de Worms reported :
" The freezing did not hurt it in the least, in fact, the greatest
epicure would fail to discover that it was not home-grown."
General Sir H. de Bathe went further in saying that the mutton
was " better than what I can buy at Chichester " ! By the way,
North Canterbury four- or five-year-old wether mutton is never
seen at Smithfield nowadays. The difficulty in placing frozen
meat on the footing in England which it deserves has not been
with the " classes " nor with the " masses," but with the great
and all-important section of the community, the middle
classes, who are, unfortunately, to a great extent, despotically
ruled by convention and prejudice.

The consumption of meat, including pork products, in
Australia is put at 233 Ibs. per head of the population, in the
United States at 144 Ibs., and in the United Kingdom at
122 Ibs. Refrigerated meat accounts for 22 per cent, of this
122 Ibs., say, 27 Ibs. per head, and in a paper read by Mr. P. B.
Proctor at the first Refrigeration Congress held in Paris in
1908, the remark was made that these 27 Ibs. of refrigerated
meat per head did not displace other meats previously con-
sumed, but represented an additional supply. Could there be
better evidence of the boon to the community as a whole
through the introduction of frozen and chilled meats ?

It has been possible for the British public to increase their
consumption of meat in thirty years to the extent mentioned
above owing to the low price at which frozen meat has been
sold. The low price does not imply any inferiority whatever
(the idea — if anyone holds it — that refrigeration has brought

HOW THE BRITISH PUBLIC HAS BENEFITED 817

about any deterioration in the quality of meat consumed in
this country must be dismissed) ; it simply indicates low coat
of production in the country of origin. In cheapening the
iiii tcher's bill by 25 to 50 per cent., surely the fanner in
Australasia and Argentina has conferred upon the English
householder a boon of incalculable magnitude 1 The house-
holder when he puts on his considering cap will perceive
another point, viz., that had it not been for the advent of
frozen and chilled meat, home-produced beef and mutton,
not being able to keep pace with the population, must
inevitably have been forced up to a prohibitive price.

The present generation obviously does not realize what
frozen meat has done for them ; the value of a great movement
is never properly appreciated except in the perspective of after
years. A new race has arisen since the days, over a century
ago, when it was necessary to put a clause in the articles of the
London apprentice binding the employer only to provide
salmon so many days a week, and since the later days when it
was the ideal of happiness of the Dorsetshire ploughboy
to " swing on a gate all day long and eat fat bacon." Now
the apprentice, were he here, could batten on beef steak from
Queensland and Argentina, and the ploughboy, as it is, no
doubt, revels in his succulent New Zealand chop.

In London, the biggest city in the world, and the centre of
the largest Empire, refrigerated meat has its chief triumph,
for the metropolis is mainly fed with meat from overseas. A
certain proportion of English and Scotch meat certainly is
consumed in London, but the West-end folk are very large
customers for chilled beef of the highest quality and the best
grades of New Zealand sheep and lambs. The huge population
of London's suburbs absorbs great quantities of the frozen
meat which arrives from all three sources, New Zealand,
Argentina, and Australia.

Frozen Meat for Tommy Atkins.
One good thing frozen meat has done for the British public
is to ensure a bountiful and economical diet system for
Tommy Atkins. The meat issued to the troops at the home

318 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

stations in the British Isles is beef six days a week and mutton
one day ; the daily ration for a soldier is f Ib. in barracks and
1 Ib. in camp. The beef on four days must be home-fed or
" town-killed," and on the other two days frozen beef may be
used. The mutton issued on the one day may be frozen. So
the British Army is fed on frozen meat for three-sevenths of
the year : could there be a better evidence of its sustaining
power ? For many years the Army commissariat stuck out
against the use of frozen beef, using chilled American
instead, and the change made some years ago in favour of
frozen is a welcome sign of the officials' conversion to reform and
retrenchment. The War Office is a keen buyer ; wether mutton
from 50 to 70 Ibs. only is accepted, beef must be 170 to 200 Ibs.
per quarter, and beef and mutton must have the original labels
attached. Tommy Atkins wants beef all the time, but for his
well-being the doctors modify this stimulating diet with one
day of mutton. It was about 1902 that the War Office took the
step of insisting that only home-bred and/or " Colonial " meat
be supplied to the troops in the United Kingdom. This
measure of preference to British produce, absolutely prohibiting
the use of American and Argentine beef and mutton, came
about through the influence of Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, then
Colonial Secretary. The principle enunciated by this policy was
so startling and revolutionary that many persons have wondered
how it escaped the notice of Mr. Chamberlain's political
opponents. Argentina suffered some inconvenience in con-
sequence, and New Zealand ewe mutton jumped into favour
with contractors. The supplying of ewe mutton from New
Zealand spoiled the colonial contract trade. Argentina then
shipped nothing but wethers and gave more satisfaction.
Because Australasia was unable to supply the quantity
required, hi 1906 this contract clause became a dead letter.
Since then sundry members of the House of Commons have
from the Opposition benches inveighed against this letting in
of the "foreigner," but owing to the irregular arrival of
supplies from our own overseas Dominions the Government
has remained under the necessity of maintaining the policy
of the open door in Army frozen meat contracts.

HOW III! IWITISH PUBLIC HAS BENEFITED 819

The contractor is a patron of the frozen meat trade to some
purpose. He supplies frozen meat in considerable bulk to
unions, asylums, and other institutions in England, and some
Sinithfield traders make a speciality of catering for this
trade, the profits in which, probably, are quite moderate. A
saving of £1,000 a year is easily effected in the expenditure of
one of these public institutions by substituting frozen for home-
produced meat. It is amusing to note the protests of the
inmates when such a step is taken ; what is good enough for
Peers and the Beef Steak Club will not do for the paupers, or
can it be that the grumble of old-fashioned prejudice is aroused
by " officious " guardians ?

CHAPTER XXV

THE POSITION OP THE BRITISH FARMER

SEEING that the refrigerated meat industry in its forward
movement naturally brings under discussion the question of
home supplies, it is not out of place here to make a brief
examination of the position of the English and Scotch grazier
and sheep farmer in regard to the importation of frozen meats.
In one sense the home producer has obviously been injured,
because the imports of meat must tend to keep prices at a
lower level than they would be if home supplies were alone
available. But as the latter eventuality is out of the question,
as far as England is concerned, one may at once turn to the
real issue and consider whether the imports of meat have been
of such magnitude and character as seriously to injure the
British farmer or to make his operations altogether unremunera-
tive.

The authors have consulted several gentlemen who are
acknowledged authorities on this question. Mr. R. E. Turnbull,
F.R.S.S., has been kind enough to work out a comparison
between the years 1880 and 1910 as to the supplies of meat
available for consumption.

1880 Compared with 1910.

1880.
Population of the United Kingdom, 34,772,000.

Supply of home-fed stock : —

Dressed weight
Tons.

2,580,000 fat cattle and veal calves 468,700

10,860,000 sheep and lambs 300,800

4,800,000 pigs for pork and bacon 288,000

18,210,000 Home supply 1,057,500

Imports 528,500

Total supply of dressed meat 1,586,000

TIN-: POSITION OF TIII. iiitrnsii r.\mn K

Home supply 66| per cent., foreign and colonial 33| per cent.
Per head of population, 102 Ibs., viz., home supply 68 Ibs.,
imported 34 Ibs. Average price of home-fed cattle (offal given
in) about lid. per lb., and of sheep about 9J</.

The three yean 1879, 1880, and 1881, were the most disas-
trous for owners of sheep in this country that any farmer now
living ever experienced.

The total number of sheep and lambs in the United Kingdom
in June, 1879, was 32,238,000 ; in June, 1882, the number was
only 27,448,000 or 4,790,000 (14'85 per cent.) less than in
1879. Liver fluke was the malady that caused the loss. The
harvest of 1879 was gathered in wretched condition, the rain-
fall occurring during harvest and being very excessive.

1910.

Population of the United Kingdom, 44,850,000.
Supply of home-fed stock : —

DretMd weight

3,226,000 fat cattle and veal calves
12,622,000 fat sheep and lambs
5,098,000 fat pigs

613,000
351,600
305,900

20,946,000 Home supply

Imported meat and meat from imported stock : —

Beef and veal

Mutton and lamb

Pork, bacon and hams

Dnenumerated

1,170,800

Tons.
446,500
277,800
164,800

16,800

Imports

Total supply of dressed meat

1,034,600
1,808,100

Home supply, 66 } per cent., foreign and colonial, 44£ per
cent. Per head of population, 114 Ibs., viz., home supply,
63 Ibs., imported, 51 Ibs.

In 1910 the total supply of meat (beef, veal, mutton, lamb,
pork, bacon, and hams) exceeded the supply in 1880 by
14,382,000 cwts., or by rather more than 45 per cent. The
increase in population was 10,078,000 (assuming that in 1910
the population was 44,850,000) = 28*8 per cent. The increase
in the supply of home-fed meat was 4, 260,000 cwts., or 20*1 per
cent. ; in foreign and colonial the increase in the supply was

P.M. Y

322 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

remarkable, being 10,122,000 cwts. = 95'76 per cent. In 1910
the supply of meat per head of population was 12 Ibs. more
than in 1880, being 114 Ibs. as compared with about 102 in
1880. (Of the total supply about 20,000 tons were exported.)

In 1910 home-fed cattle averaged about \\d. per Ib. less than
in 1880, and sheep 2d. per Ib. less than in 1880.

Mr. Turnbull concludes his statistical survey as follows : —
" While the large and increasing supply of meat from abroad
has pressed heavily on the farmers and landowners of the
United Kingdom, the severe competition that breeders of cattle,
sheep, and pigs, have been subjected to has undoubtedly
resulted in a marked improvement in the quality of herds and
flocks on nearly every estate in the kingdom. With regard to
sheep, the number of sheep and lambs marketed in twelve
months now equals about 40 per cent, of the number in the
returns. During the ten years 1870 — 79 the number marketed
only equalled on the average about 35 per cent. The quantity
of mutton and lamb now marketed equals about 25 Ibs. for
each animal in the returns ; in the earlier period the aver-
age was about 22 Ibs. By securing earlier maturity and
marked improvement in quality the home breeders have till
quite recently held their own in face of increasing foreign
competition.

" Some of the British breeds of sheep are now too heavy for
the family requirements of the consumer. This is notably
the case as regards the famous Lincoln and Leicester breeds.
The joints of mutton cut from sheep of these breeds are too
large for ordinary household use. (There is still a good demand
for large joints for restaurants.) The demand is now almost
entirely for joints cut from sheep of small or medium weights,
60 to 70 Ibs. The Down breeds meet this demand admirably.
The Lincoln and Leicester breeds thrive better than any other
in the districts where they are bred, and having regard to their
abundant production of wool they are not likely to be replaced
by other breeds. With regard to cattle, the quantity of beef
and veal marketed in twelve months now equals about
116^ Ibs. for each animal in the returns. In the twenty years
that followed 1870 the average was only about 105 Ibs. The

THE POSITION OF THE BRITISH FARMER 8*3

improvement is much lees marked than in the case of sheep.
During the last forty yean a greater general improvement has
taken place in the quality of Irish and Scotch cattle than in
English cattle.

" The number of fat cattle and veal calves now marketed in
twelve months equals about 27£ per cent, of the number in the
returns, as compared with 22} per cent, in the earlier period.
The total supply now includes a larger proportion of veal calves
than formerly. The proportion of well-fattened calves is much
leu than was formerly the case ; this is owing to the greatly
increased demand for new milk for household consumption.

" The number of pigs marketed in twelve months equals over
140 per cent, of the number in the returns. The production of
pork, bacon, and hams, equals about 190 Ibs. for each animal in
the returns.

" The live stock industry of the United Kingdom in the face
of strong competition from abroad is still fairly remunerative,
except in seasons of drought or when the general trade of the
country is severely depressed, and this will probably continue to
be the case even should the foreign and colonial supply of meat
continue to be as large as it now is.

" To the wage-earning classes the abundant supply of im-
ported meat has proved to be a great boon. I am of opinion that
the consumer has laroely benefited by the exportation of well-
bred cattle and sheep to other countries, because this has
resulted in an abundant supply of meat of fairly good quality,
and also a considerable supply of excellent quality. The
number of emr farmers who have benefited has certainly not
been large, only breeders of pedigree stock have benefited,
the rest — a large majority — have suffered very severely."

A University Professor's Opinion. — Professor Robert Wallace,
of the University of Edinburgh, on being asked for his views,
sent the following lines : —

" With reference to the position of the British farmer in
relation to the enormous increase in the imports of frozen
meat from abroad, I am convinced that he would have been
ruined but for the increased annual supply of gold which
prevented prices falling as they would have done had the

Y 2

324 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

quantity theory of money not come to his assistance. On the
other hand, the increased supply of meat from abroad has
been a blessing in disguise to the farmer as well as to the
consumer, for without the foreign competition, which the
farmer has, I think, on the whole, very successfully withstood,
prices of butchers' meat would have risen out of all proportion
to its food value in relation to other commodities, and the
ignorant people would have blamed the farmer and created
disturbances and rioting — such as have recently occurred in
France — which would have upset the social order of things
and been bad for the farmer as well as for the country as
a whole."

A Pessimistic Note from Yorkshire. — How the sheep farmers
of Yorkshire and Scotland have been adversely affected is
shown by an extract from the letter of one of them, Mr. John
Mackenzie, North-Cote, near Skip ton. " Speaking as a sheep
owner myself, I should say that the importation of frozen
mutton has reduced the profits of the rank and file of British
flock owners to vanishing point. By ' rank and file ' I, of
course, mean sheep owners who are entirely dependent on the
breeding and rearing of store sheep for their revenue. Indeed,
over large tracts of the Scottish Highlands the business
has had to be entirely abandoned ; vast areas of excellent
sheep land (mountain) having been cleared of sheep in recent
years and put under deer, the former occupiers (most grazing
runs are leaseholds) of those lands, in many instances, betaking
themselves to Australia, New Zealand, the Argentine, and the
United States of America, where, as a rule, they usually amass
fortunes by following the occupation at which they could not
make bread and butter at home. And I am quite within the
mark in saying that the pressure on the home producer is not
yet nearly so acute as it will be. Every man who has taken
an intelligent interest in this question can have no two opinions
on the matter."

The Splendid Pedigree Stock Export Trade. — The imports of
frozen meat into Great Britain have steadied the prices of
home-fed meat all round for the last thirty years ; no more
buying Scotch wethers (alive) at Is. a Ib. ! But it does not

THE POSITION OF THE BRITISH FARMER 8*5

follow from that that the home trade has been robbed of profit* ;
in fact, taking an average of ten years, Mr. A. J. Hick man,
of Court Lodge, Egerton, Kent, speaking a year or two ago,
said that " sheep growing is the most profitable branch of
I'.ntish husbandry." Mr. Hickman, of course, did not include
in his average the disastrous 1911 season for sheep farmers.
One most favourable effect — as mentioned above — upon
the home stock interests of the frozen and chilled meat trade
has been the demand from South America and Australasia
for pure-bred animals, and upon this demand the pedigree
herds and flocks in England and Scotland have been largely built
up, and brought to the present flourishing condition. Argentina
particularly, as will be seen by figures given elsewhere in this
book, has been a splendid customer, and no one can speak of
the beef and mutton received from that Republic as a " for-
eign " article pure and simple, considering that it represents
cattle and sheep descended from the Shorthorns and Lincoln
sheep and other breeds imported from Great Britain. Some
British breeders of live stock have in this way immensely
benefited by the sale of their stud sheep and cattle for
grading-up purposes to the pastoralists and graziers of the
Southern Hemisphere.

THe Evidence of Facts and Figures. — In order to prove
the correctness of the view held by some men that
the production of meat in the United Kingdom has been
rendered unremunerative by importations it would be necessary
to show that the numbers of cattle and sheep had been steadily
reduced by the pressure of outside competition. But the
returns show that with slight fluctuations the number of cattle
and sheep in the United Kingdom has been maintained, and,
indeed, increased.

Cattlo. Sheep.

1880 . . . 9,871,644 30,240,722
1910 . . . 11,765,643 31,164,587

According to the Board of Agriculture returns, " Cheviot
hill wedder lambs " averaged in 1876—1880, 14*. 2d. per head
for top quality ; in 1910 the price for the same animal and

326 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

grade was 15s. As to store cattle, according to the same
authority, a " Teviotdale stirk " averaged £9 8s. in the five
years mentioned, and in 1910 the value is given as £10.

It only needs the working out of the argument of this chapter
to show hi how remarkably small a degree the large importa-
tions of chilled and frozen meat have affected the British stock
business. It is evident that the farmer has perceived how best
to meet his competitor, by striving to produce only the highest
grades of meat. So it has come about that the market prices
for the best qualities of home-produced cattle and sheep have
well withstood the attack from overseas. Two distinct trades
exist, English and Scotch meat, and chilled and frozen, respec-
tively, and though there is a considerable overlapping, the
higher retail rates paid for home-fed meat allow of a
premium on the wholesale market and on the farm for
stock fed in British pastures. The new industry of frozen
meat has found out new consumers in England. Of course, at
the start the British farmers were alarmed at the invasion of
their tight little island by American beef and New Zealand
mutton, and the discussions at the " market ordinary " must
then have been portentous. The new era introduced for
English and Scottish stock raisers about 1880 looked threaten-
ing enough. Rapid transit, cheap freight, and Governmental
assistance and encouragement, helped the Australasian and
Argentine farmers to launch their ventures in a style that
promised badly for the British grazier, handicapped as he was
with relatively dearly-rented and heavily-taxed land. That a
difference in public estimation and price does exist between
home-fed and imported dead meat we know, but it has not
always been clear why it is quite so pronounced. Were the
system of transit, handling, and cooking of frozen meat ideal,
the margin of value between the two descriptions would
probably be much less. American chilled beef — admittedly
equal, or superior hi some cases, to British in quality — often
sells at the same rates as best English. Canterbury mutton
and lamb have been mistaken for English Down meat by good
judges when the properly thawed out joint has been placed
before them hot from the oven ; when cold however home-fed

THE POSITION OF THE BRITISH FARMER M7

has the advantage. Bat it is inevitable that home-fed meat
should sell hotter than frozen Australasian or Argentine, and it
is plain that the British fanner has been far less seriously hit by
imported meat than by imported wheat.

The Farmer's Position under Free Imports. — It would be
interesting to read an article from the pen of a competent person
dealing with the question of the British farmer's position with
lower rents and cheaper foods to-day as compared with
the times of high prices for their produce a generation and
more ago. In the preceding pages of this chapter the references
concern only the stock breeder, but as the stock breeder's
art is to a certain degree wrapped up in the agricultural industry
as a whole, it may be worth while in passing to record the
opinion of many high authorities in Great Britain concerning
the alleged decadence of agriculture in England and Scotland.
It is very difficult to contrast the past and present positions of
agriculture, because everything has changed so much. In the
early seventies the capital employed in farming in the United
Kingdom was about £450,000,000 ; it is now about
£400,000,000. The gross revenue, the average for the five
years, June, 1872 — 1877, was about £255,000,000. It is cal-
culated that the average for the last five years has been about
£200,000,000. According to official figures, the gross income from
agricultural lands in Great Britain sank from £59,500,000 in
1876—1877 to £42,156,000 in 1908—1909. Though these figures
show a reduction in the capital invested in the agricultural
industry to-day as compared with thirty to thirty-five years ago,
such high authorities as Professor Wrightson and Mr. James S.
Macdonald , who have been appealed to by the authors, hesitate to
state that British farming is less prosperous than it was thirty
to forty years ago. If this is so, then we must give the farmer
credit for considerable smartness in changing his methods,
bearing in mind the fact that in 1910 agricultural foodstuffs
were imported into the United Kingdom to the extent of
£206,650,566, of which huge sum chilled and frozen meats,
£21,548,014, formed a part. A favourable change may come
about when the Continental tariffs on meat are reduced or
abolished, and the regulations, acting practically as a prohibi-

328 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

tion to the import of frozen meat, are relaxed or removed.
Then some considerable part of the chilled and frozen meat
imports, at present finding their market only in Great Britain,
will be diverted to Continental States, and the British farmer
should, in consequence, be able to secure an enhanced price
for his stock.

CHAPTER XXVI

THE INCORPORATED SOCIETY OF HEAT IMPORTERS

SOONER or later in the history of a trade the efforts towards
association among its members spring up, and it was early in
1894 that an attempt was made to establish a society in the
frozen meat industry which should form a common ground for
dealing with the differences of conflicting interests in the trade.
Unrestricted competition amongst holders of stocks had led and
was leading to serious losses, preventing the trade from being
put on a proper basis at the selling point. Some of the leading
importers of frozen meat (Australasian and Argentine) then
formed a " Frozen Meat Importers' Association," and a set of
rules was drawn up. But the motif of the whole movement,
the regulation by mutual consent of prices on Smithfield
market, proved too strong for the organization, which broke
down when some members, who acted in dual or triple capacities
as Smithfield salesmen, dealers, or direct consignees, found it
impossible to reconcile the interests of their own businesses
with those of the trade as a whole. So after a few months the
Association was dissolved.

This preliminary failure, however, did not discourage those
who had set their minds on the establishment of a trade organi-
zation, and the necessity for a trade association was so urgent
that in 1895 the " Frozen Meat Trade Association " was
formed, with ten members, on wider lines than its predecessor.
The pitfall of adhering to the principle of price regulation was
avoided, ample agenda being found in the shape of matters of
moment affecting the whole body of the trade, such as insur-
ance claims, market customs, and the relations of importers
with carriers, etc. It was soon discovered that there were
many questions which could be far better handled by a body
representing the frozen meat trade than by individuals ; so the

330 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

Association gradually assumed an influential position and
acquired important functions.

Disclosing Stocks.

One of the early schemes devised by the Frozen Meat Trade
Association was that put forward on September 24, 1896, for
the obtaining of reliable monthly returns of the stocks of
frozen meat. This was outlined as follows : —

That the quantities held by each importer, whether in London or the provinces, be declared by
the means of counters or coloured cards. The following numbers to be inscribed on the counters
or cards: — Nil; 500; 1,000; 5,000; 10,000. Different colours to represent the various classes:—
Australian sheep by white counter ; New Zealand sheep by green counter ; Plates by red counter ;
lambs by blue counter ; quarters of beef by yellow counter.

That the stocks be returned of the quantities held on the Istday of the month. Stocks to include
frozen meat on any ship or steamer, docked but not discharged.

That the counters be collected by a commissionaire calling at the various contributors' offices on
the first Tuesday in each month, and that he be provided with a locked box or bag into which the
counters can be deposited.

That each contributor be supplied with a stock of the necessary counters or cards, which may
be put in the stock returns box, either when the commissionaire calls, or at the mteting of the
Association.

That a meeting be held on the day of the collection, at such hour in the afternoon as may be
arranged, when the box shall be opened by a member of the Committee of the Association, or, in
the absence of a member of Committee, by a member of the Association in the presence of the
secretary, and the stocks then declared.

Any contributor to the stock returns to have a general invitation to attend such meetings.

That contributors be requested not to impart to the Press, nor to any private person other than
contributors, the state of the various stocks.

This scheme did not come into operation, but as the subject
has received so much attention of recent years, the details may
have present, and possibly future, interest.

The Weekly Prices Cable.

It was not until 1897 that the Association entered upon the
most useful section of its operations, a phase of action which
won for it prominence and appreciation in Australia and New
Zealand. In that year Mr. R. E. N. Twopeny, the then editor
of the Pastoralists' Review, arrived hi London as the delegate
of the Australian freezing companies, and the Association
arranged with him for the weekly transmission by cable of a
set of quotations. The prices were arrived at by averaging the
London market quotations furnished by the members of the
Association. From 1897 to the present day the weekly cable of
Smithfield prices — amplified from time to time according to
the needs of the trade — has been despatched. This official
record has been found to be of incalculable benefit to all

INCORPORATED SOCIETY OF MEAT IMPORTERS 881

engaged in the trade in Australasia ; it supplemented the
eiratic cabled advices on varying bases which had previously
been despatched by London merchants, and the cable is now
printed in every journal in Australasia which gives commercial
news. Some misunderstanding has occasionally arisen ; it
has been supposed that the cabled figures represent prices M
" fixed " by the Association. Nothing of the sort was ever
contemplated, the cable simply giving a record, and as such,
carefully arranged on the basis of figures supplied by the lead-
ing operators, no more informatory statement could be tele-
graphed. A reproduction of the first issue and the latest form
appears in the Appendices.

The Charter and the New Name.

On October 26, 1909, a resolution was adopted winding up
the Frozen Meat Trade Association, and passing over all its
interests to " The Incorporated Society of Meat Importers."
With this acquisition of its charter, the Association took up
a variety of extended duties.

The following are some of the objects for which the Society
was established, as named in its memorandum of association.
Not only was it formed " to improve the conditions under
which the trade of meat importers is carried on," but also " to
watch over and improve the conditions under which imported
meat is prepared, packed, shipped," etc., likewise to assist
improvements in methods and appliances. An important
function is " to officially record and register the current market
prices of imported meat in the United Kingdom and to publish
the same . . . provided that the Society shall not fix or
attempt to fix prices, or impose terms of sale." Other purposes
are the collection and circulation of information among members
of the trade, the promotion of discussion, and the undertaking
of work as a trade society in securing necessary reforms, etc.,
from the Legislature and other authorities. The Society also
includes among its objects the conducting of arbitrations and
the nomination of surveyors, valuers, arbitrators, and umpires.

Its scope and membership (including Australian, New

332 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT. TRADE

Zealand, North American, and South American firms, ship-
owners, bankers, underwriters, Australian Agents-General and
Government Commissioners) now make it a very important
body. All vexed questions affecting the interests of the frozen
and chilled meat trade are taken up ; where wrongs can be
righted, and reforms effected, the institution takes action, and
much of the improvement which has been introduced into the
working of the trade during the last ten years or so has been
due to its interposition.

One thing there is which the Frozen Meat Trade Association
has been unable to do, viz., to introduce into the forward trade
an approved c.i.f . contract form. For years this was hammered
at, and at length a form, which seemed to meet all requirements,
was welded into shape. But the great bugbear of the frozen
meat trade — conflicting interests — has prevented the general
acceptance of the form.

Past Presidents and Vice-Presidents.

The first president, in 1896, was Sir Montague Nelson, and
successive presidents have been : —

1897. Mr. George Goodsir.

1898. Mr. William Cook. Vice-President, Mr. George Goodsir.

1899. Mr. Richmond Keele. Vice-President, Mr. William Cook.

1900. Mr. George Goodsir. Vice-President, Mr. Richmond Keele.

1901. Mr. William Blankley. Vice-President, Mr. George Goodsir.

1902. Mr. J. N. Newman. Vice-President, Mr. George Goodsir.

1903. Mr. J. A. Potter. Viee-President, Mr. J. N. Newman.

1904. Mr. C. H. Inglis. Vice-President, Mr. J. A. Potter.

1905. Mr. A. W. Pottinger. Vice-President, Mr. William Blankley.

1906. Mr. W. Lane Mitchell. Vice-President, Mr. A. W. Pottinger.

1907. Mr. W. L,ane Mitchell. Vice-President, Mr. William Blankloy.

1908. Mr. Gordon H. Campbell.

1909. Mr. Gordon H. Campbell.

INCORPORATED SOCIETY OP MEAT IMPORTERS.

1910. Mr. Gordon H. Campbell, first President.

Mr. William Blankley, first Vice-President.

1911. Mr. Gordon H. Campbell, President.

Mr. William Blankley, Vice-President.

1912. Mr. Gordon H. Campbell, President.

Mr. William Blankley, Vice-President.

Mr. Thomas Guy Nind acted as secretary till 1909, when
the position was assumed by Mr. Louis H. Furniss. The
registered office is at 15 and 16, West Smithfield, London, E.G.
The Society, which is split up into sectional Committees and
holds periodic general meetings, has now over a hundred
members, and it is certain that on the lines of its charter it will
in process of time become still more effective in operating for

SIR AI.KKKH >KAI.K HA-I.VM.

/•,. f.ir,- p \\ <-.'.

INCORPORATED SOCIETY OF MEAT IMPORTERS 388

the general welfare of the trade as a whole. The Society will
be able to take action where individual traders and firms
cannot, and its functions will include watching the general
course of the trade and guarding the interests of its members,
who constitute the importers of frozen and chilled meats into
London.

CHAPTER XXVII

MECHANICAL REFRIGERATION

ALTHOUGH a detailed and technical description of the pro-
cesses by which the science of refrigeration is applied to the
frozen meat industry would only appeal to a very few of those
interested in the commercial side of the industry, a more
important and wider function is fulfilled by giving a brief
account of the elemental principles on which mechanically
produced cold operates to preserve the great meat supplies
of the world to-day, and of the development of the application
of refrigeration in the service of man.

The Principle of Mechanical Refrigeration. — The present
glance at the scientific side of refrigeration must be as brief
and non-technical as possible. In the classification of the
types of machine the divisions adopted by Sir J. Alfred Ewing
may well be followed.

The first broad distinction that may be drawn is between
those machines that use air as their working substance and
those which use a liquid which is alternately vaporized and
liquefied during the cycle of operations.

In machines using air, the air is compressed in a cylinder,
the heat produced by the compression is removed by water
circulation and the cooled air is allowed to expand in another
cylinder against a resistance and becomes further cooled in
virtue of the work it does, and is then discharged into the
chamber to be refrigerated. These machines are usually
spoken of as compressed air machines.

In machines using vaporized liquid the underlying principle
is the using up of heat units when a liquid passes to a gaseous
state, the heat used being said to become " latent."

In such machines simple mechanical compression may be
adopted as the means of restoring the vapour to the liquid

A ft man if Exp*n»r

ii i .r-i K\I ist! (TOT) THE i UMI'I:KSS|O\ SYSTEM AM> r."ir»M

I HE ABSOnPTION SYSTEM OF IIEKKIOERATK>X.

7<» fn>;- /i. :t:u.

MECHANICAL UK TK ITERATION

state, or the gas may be absorbed into water or some other
liquid for which it has a chemical affinity, the machines
adopting these alternative methods being grouped as "com-
pression " and " absorption " respectively.

Broadly speaking, there are three methods by which
the cold produced by either of the above methods is com-
municated to the chambers in which the meat or other
produce to be refrigerated is stored. The direct expan-
sion system is that in which, in the case of ammonia
compression machines, the gas is allowed to expand
direct into the pipes in the cold store. In the brine cir-
culation system the cold is first produced in a vessel of brine
by the immersion of the expansion pipes therein, the cooled
brine being circulated through the pipes in the cold store.
The third system of cooling is that known as cold air circulation,
in which a current of cold air is passed into the store through
ventilators called " air-ducts," such air having been passed for
refrigerating purposes over a " battery " consisting of either
direct expansion pipes, cold brine pipes, or an open flow of
cold brine. The last method is said to have the advantage
of not unduly drying the air, while it is also claimed to clean
the atmosphere.

Reference should also be made to the vacuum process of
refrigeration, which depends for the production of cold upon
the evaporation of water. This is carried out by means of
lowering the pressure of the atmosphere in the vessel con-
taining water, and the absorption in strong sulphuric acid
of the vapour given off by that water, but this system is
of limited application.

Early Discoveries. — The earliest discoveries in the art of
refrigeration date back much farther than its application to
the preservation of meat, and the history of the developments
which have produced the modern refrigerating machine,
though it need not be told in the present volume, is a thrilling
one. Mr. J. J. Coleman, himself a notable pioneer of mechani-
cal refrigeration, as our previous pages show, stated in a paper
read before the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1882 that
" although Sir John Herschel and others had directed at ten-

336 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

tion previously to the desirability of utilizing the expansion
of compressed air for the production of cold, the credit of
actually constructing such apparatus appears to belong in this
country to Professor Piazzi Smyth. In 1839 he had com-
menced experiments. He seems to have worked for a long
time with apparatus on the method of blowing air through
loaded valves before the principles of the mechanical theory
of heat as applied to gases were properly understood." A
vacuum ice machine was invented by a Dr. Cullen over
a century and a half ago, and Ferdinand Carre, a French
chemist, invented the ammonia absorption machine sixty
years ago. In 1834, Jacob Perkins invented a refrigerating
machine on the compression system. The reputed father of
the cold air refrigerating machine, the system of freezing so
prominently associated with the early stages of the frozen meat
export trade, was Dr. John Gorrie, an American, who lived
and died at Appalachicola, in Florida. Gorrie introduced his
machine in 1849, and now, sixty-three years later, United
States citizens are proposing to erect a statue to his memory.
There was also a long list of experimental work and commercial
enterprises undertaken in Australia and New Zealand, and this
pioneering effort is recorded at some length in another chapter.

In addition to the brief summary of early refrigerating
patents recorded in Appendix XII., it may be well to give here
a few particulars concerning some of those whose names are
prominently identified to-day with refrigerating machinery.

Mr. J. J. Coleman, whose name will always be associated
with the famous " Bell-Coleman " machine of refrigeration's
early days, was, prior to his connection with that enterprise,
one of the scientific experts in the employment of Young's
Paraffin Light and Mineral Oil Co. In the paper which
has been referred to above he gave some interesting
particulars of the dry air refrigerating machine which he
fitted on board the Anchor Liner Circassia in March, 1879.
The plant consisted of two compressors, 16 inches diameter
and 16 inches stroke, and was connected with a chamber
of about 18,000 cubic feet capacity, including engine space
and chamber walls. Mr. Coleman went^to New York

DIAGRAM ILLUSTRATING THK I.KI !.-« uI.KMAN REFKIGEIUTIXO MA< MINE.

Tit faff p. 33*5.

MECHANICAL HI I HK ,KRATIO\

twice with that machine, which was able to keep the chamber
near freezing point at 60 revolutions per minute. Some 400
carcasses of beef and large quantities of mutton \ven- carried
on these voyages, the meat having been previously cooled to
35° F. in chill-rooms in New York, and landed in England
at about the same temperature. The machine, in fact, ran
a great number of voyages with similar cargoes, finally giving
place to a larger one, and being transferred later to another
steamer. The owners of the Anchor Line, said Mr. Coleman,
deemed it desirable to fit up thirteen transatlantic ships with
such machinery, it being resolved to abandon making the
machines in duplicate.

A name connected with some of the earliest practical
experiments in frozen meat export was that of Sir Alfred Seale
Haslam, who was first identified with the science of mechanical
refrigeration in 1876. Sir Alfred's first connection with
refrigerating machinery was in developing the ammonia
absorption machine in combination with his old partners,
Messrs. Pontifex and Wood, whose business he afterwards
amalgamated with his own. The name of Haslam is also
identified with some of the earliest developments of the
air compression refrigerating machine, and Sir Alfred became
the purchaser of the Bell-Coleman patents. With regard
to the early days of the cold air compression machine in
marine work, the Haslam Foundry and Engineering Co.,
following the introduction of the Haslam " dry air " machine
in 1880, carried the major portion of the meat imported into
the United Kingdom for many years. The initial experiments
made to perfect the Haslam dry air machine were carried
out at Derby in connection with a large building fitted up by
Sir Alfred Haslam so as to represent and give the working
conditions of the freezing hold of a ship.

Dr. Carl von Linde was one of the earliest discoverers of prac-
tical mechanical refrigeration. Ammonia compression machine
patents were first taken out by him in 1870, and the first Linde
machine manufactured for freezing meat was patented in 1874.

Giffard was another early patentee of the cold air com-
pression refrigerating machine, his first plant bein^ pro-

F.M. Z

338 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

duced in 1873, and improved in 1877. It was in the
following year that the firm of Messrs. J. and E. Hall, Ltd.,
took up their first interest in refrigeration by bringing over
the Giffard cold air machine which had been exhibited at the
Paris International Exhibition of 1877 ; and in the early
eighties this firm was at work fitting ships for the carriage of
frozen meat, etc. In 1888, Messrs. J. and E. Hall, Ltd.,
brought out the carbonic acid compression refrigerating
machine, a type of machine which has had a very extensive
use on board ship. Messrs. J. and E. Hall, Ltd., have also
carried out a great number of installations on land, and are in
the front rank of manufacturers of refrigeration machinery.
The Oswestry Grange, a sectional diagram of which appears on
page 126, is one of the many refrigerated liners fitted with
Messrs. Hall's machinery.

An early patentee of the cold air compression machine was
Mr. T. B. Lightfoot, who became in 1890 the managing
director of the Linde British Refrigeration Co., Ltd. In 1880
Mr. Lightfoot introduced an improved cold air machine in
which the expansion was performed in two stages, and this
machine did considerable work in meat freezing on land and
at sea. Mr. Lightfoot was also the designer of what was
probably the first commercially successful ship's refrigerating
plant in which a chemical refrigerating agent was used, this
being on Messrs. Turnbull, Martin and Co.'s s.s. Perthshire in
1893 (refrigerated capacity 240,000 cubic feet), all ships carry-
ing frozen meat having up to that time been fitted with air com-
pression machines. The first meat freezing plant designed by
Mr. Lightfoot and supplied by the Linde British Refrigeration
Co. was that sent out to the Wellington Meat Export Co.,
New Zealand, in 1891, and in the same year the two works of
the Queensland Meat Export Co. at Brisbane and Townsville
were fitted with refrigerating machines by the Linde British
Refrigeration Co.

Among the earliest types of refrigerating machines applied
commercially was that invented by Mr. J. C. De la Vergne,
who introduced a patent ammonia compression refrigerating
machine in the United States, and had several plants in opera-

\ii.\

TV fan p. 338.

MECHANICAL REFRIGERATION S89

tion by 1880. The De la Vergne British patents were taken up
by Messrs. L. Sterne and Co., Ltd., in 1887, and it was in that
year that Messrs. Sterne installed at the Leadenhall Cold Stores
a machine of 40 tons' daily refrigerating capacity ; this was
the first De la Vergne machine erected in Great Britain, and
it is still doing regular and efficient service. Machinery
working on the same system is to-day very widely used in the
frozen meat trade in all parts of the world.

A type of refrigerating machine popular in Australasia
and elsewhere is the " Hercules " ammonia compression plant
patented and manufactured by Mr. C. A. MacDonald, of
Chicago, U.SJL, and Sydney, New South Wales. Mr. Mac-
Donald's first connection with refrigeration was in the early
eighties, when, for a number of years, he built machines
for Mr. David Boyle, one of the pioneers of refrigeration in the
United States. The first "Hercules" machine was built in
1885. In 1891 Mr. MacDonald fitted up the Cunard liners
Umbria and Elruria for the carriage of chilled beef, and also
five steamers for the Nelson Line, of Liverpool, for the same
purpose. Mr. MacDonald went to Australia in 1894. Many
of the freezing works in Australia and New Zealand have
been fitted with " Hercules " machinery, which is installed
in units as large as 240 tons' daily refrigerating capacity, a
machine of that size being erected for the Municipal Markets,
Melbourne.

Air Compression and Chemical Refrigerants. — As far as
Australia and New Zealand were concerned, in the early days
of the frozen meat industry — and it is only with the application
of mechanical refrigeration to the meat trade that we are
concerned in this chapter — what was known as the dry air
process of refrigeration, viz., the compression and expansion
of air, was adopted. The only important exporting company
then using the ammonia process was the New South Wales
Fresh Food and Ice Co., Ltd., of Sydney, which can justly
claim the pioneer-ship of ammonia freezing in Australasia,
that company having had an ammonia system in use at its
works in Darling Harbour long before its adoption by other
companies. Honour is due to the late Mr. T. IS. Mort, founder

L 2

340 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

of the company, for his indefatigable energy in persevering
with his experiments with ammonia for refrigerating pur-
poses at a time when very little practical progress had been
made with it in any part of the world.

During the early nineties, however, the old dry air process
began to give way to the more economical system employing
ammonia and carbonic acid gas, the former of these two
chemical refrigerants receiving more favour so far as use in
shore freezing works was concerned, and the latter being
regarded with similar favour for marine refrigeration. Having
become used to the system of circulating air through the
rooms by the old dry air machines, which belched the cold
expanded air into them to be pumped out again, re-com-
pressed by the compressors, expanded, etc., in constant
cycle, many meat experts then persisted that any system
without such rapid circulation would prove injurious to
the meat. The result was that, consequently, in the early days
of the ammonia compression plants they were made to expend
their energies upon cooling batteries connected with the
freezing chambers by air ducts through which air was con-
stantly circulated by means of fans, thus forming a complete
cycle as before. After a time, however, this process began to
wane, owing to some of the batteries frequently getting out of
order and also on account of the immense amount of space
taken up by the unnecessary plant and air ducts. Thus this
system of refrigeration later gave way to the method of
having the freezing rooms and stores fitted with direct
expansion coils, and the Deniliquin works of the Riverina
Frozen Meat Co., Ltd., can justly claim to be the first up-to-
date establishment in Australasia to have its freezing chambers
and stores specially designed for, and fitted with, a direct
expansion pipe system operated by an ammonia compression
plant, a combination now so widely adopted.

It is a good testimonial to the quality of refrigerating
engineering work to state that at a considerable number of
refrigerating stores to-day there may be found in operation
machines erected when mechanical refrigeration was a new
(science, and these plants have been steadily discharging their

MK. T. II. I.K;IIIK<»>I.

To fucf p. 840

MI ( i! \\ICAI. in rm<;r.K.\Ti<>N S4t

doty for anything up to a quarter of a century. British makers
lay claim to the fact that such survival is more frequently
met with in their machines than with plant made elsewhere,
and certainly British refrigerating machinery has a first-class
reputation for finish, reliability, and efficiency. The long
services of many of the old machines reminds one of the fact
that the improvements which have been continually made in
refrigerating machinery have not, generally speaking, involved
the adoption of new principles as much as the perfection of
detail.

Insulation. — But to revert to the remarks upon the element a Is
of mechanical refrigeration, it may be remarked that the low
level of temperature is preserved in a cold store by filling the
walls, floors, and ceilings of such chambers with heat-insulating
materials. A variety of substances of low heat conductivity
are in use, such as cork, in either granulated or slab form ;
charcoal, in either granulated or flake form ; silicate cotton,
or " slag wool," a fibrous material the thin threads of which
are of blown, fused slag ; sawdust ; pumice ; felt ; rice husks ;
kieselguhr, a mineral powder ; and other substances.

Modern Refrigerating Devices. — Experience has shown that
the application of refrigeration to meat and other foods is
successful proportionately to the care with which it is performed.
The effect of an irregularly maintained temperature in a cold
chamber is harmful to the goods stored, and not only have the
mechanical arrangements of the refrigerating machines been
improved to avoid irregularities of working, but the devising
of air-locks and loading chambers to cold stores, improved
means of air circulation, and arrangements of circulatory pipes
and brine vessels, has been a feature of later practice. Tellier's
early experiments in the carrying of meat at a temperature
which would not congeal it — viz., 32° F. — have their later
counterpart in the great chilled meat trade of to-day, and in
those ships in which the small ranges of temperature have to
be achieved for the carriage of the meat at a chilling level the
mechanical arrangements to this end have to be very efficient
and reliable. So exact have the regulating devices in the brine
circulatory systems of ship's refrigerating installations now

342 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

become, that the makers' claim to be able to keep the tem-
perature of a meat hold to within a degree Fahrenheit, or less,
is justified. Two systems of brine circulation are in use, viz.,
the open cycle and the closed cycle systems. In the former
the return current from the various circuits in the system is
open and visible. In the closed system this is not so, and it is
claimed for the latter method that with it there is no possibility
of air getting into the piping and by air-locks preventing the
proper flow in some parts of the circuit. One of the latest
systems of temperature regulation in meat chilling ships' holds
is a patent method of brine attemperation introduced by the
Liverpool Refrigeration Co., Ltd. This works on the closed
system, and in this method there are two systems of mains,
one conveying the zero brine, which is pumped directly from
the brine cooler, and the other conveying attemperated brine
at a much higher temperature, pumped from a container
called the " attemperator." Specially designed valves and
" headers " control the mixing of these brine currents and their
distribution to the various parts of the installation.

Temperature Measurement and Recording. — The careful
registration of the temperatures of cold stores is an important
feature, and an up-to-date method is to have thermometric
apparatus the indicator of which is at a convenient point
outside the chamber or chambers, say, in a lobby or office.
These " distance thermometers " are of great service in refri-
gerated vessels where varying conditions of temperature have
frequently to be noted. Self-recording thermometers are in
many cases used in the refrigerated holds of vessels, their tell-
tale charts being taken as a log or supplementary log of the
ranges of temperature experienced during a voyage. In the
case of the Canadian export produce trade the Dominion
Government has in force an admirable system in which it is
part of the cargo inspector's duty at Montreal to place locked-up
self-recording thermometers or thermographs in every cold
storage chamber where produce is stored. These records are
removed by the inspectors in Great Britain and at once mailed
to Ottawa, while the instrument remains in the ship. Photo-
graphic copies are made of the thermograph records, one copy

MKCHANICAL REFRIGERATION

of which is filed in the exchange room at the Montreal Board
of Trade (Chamber of Commerce), another copy is sent to the
Montreal agents of the shipping companies, and copies may be
had by any interested shipper. The accompanying illustration
of a temperature chart, or " policeman record," of the ther-
mometric conditions of the inside of a ship's hold during a
voyage, concerns, as will be seen from the particulars written
thereon, a recent South American chilled meat shipment in
one of Messrs. H. and W. Nelson's Highland Line vessels. The
record has been placed at the service of the authors by Mr.
A. R. T. Woods, the marine superintendent of that well-known
shipping line. It was this gentleman who devised the first
arrangement for temperature regulation by brine attempera-
tion installed in 1895 on the Highland Chief, a chilled meat
vessel still performing efficient service. Messrs. J. and E. Hall,
Ltd., fitted in this vessel a vertical CO2 refrigerating machine,
which was at the time the largest plant of its kind afloat.

Alarm devices to warn as to high or low limits of tempera-
ture being exceeded have been adopted in connection with
cold stores on land and at sea, and it is worth while to record
one of the earliest of these, a clever form of alarm thermometer,
which was invented by Mr. Francis Arenas, of Christchurch,
New Zealand. The instrument was in the form of a metallic
horseshoe composed of five different metals, its action depend-
ing upon their varying tendencies to expansion and con-
traction. The horseshoe was put in a square case placed
vertically against a bulkhead. The instrument was set in such
a way that its movements produced no effect within normal
limits of temperature. Directly, however, the temperature
rose or fell beyond the maximum or minimum, the expansion
or contraction of the metals caused electrical short-circuiting, a
bell was set ringing, and could not be stopped until the tem-
perature had been adjusted. At the same time as the bell was
rung, a disc was displayed at a little window showing the word
" Heat " or " Cold," and clockwork was set in motion which
automatically recorded the time when the temperature had
been too high or too low. This alarum thermometer one of the
authors inspected at 26, Jewin Crescent, London, in November,

34* A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

1897, and shortly afterwards it was destroyed in the big fire which
broke out in that quarter, despite its loud alarum !

The Cold Storage Chain. — One of the chief hindrances to the
completely successful application of refrigeration to the pre-
servation of perishable food products is the difficulty, nay, the
impossibility, of having a complete cold storage chain from the
time that the food is started on its way to the consumer to the
time that it actually passes into consumption. In the case of
meat there are many points at which this cold storage chain is
broken. From the freezing chamber at the meat works it
makes at least momentary acquaintance with the outer
atmosphere on its being entrained, and even should the train
journey to the ship be made under ideal conditions, there is
the unloading and the putting either into the dock cold store
or the ship's refrigerated hold. On its disembarkation, the
outer air is again reached before the meat can be safely housed
in the land cold store, and then again before it reaches the
consumer the meat has several periods of exposure. Modern
refrigerating practice has in several ways mitigated the
deleterious effect which these imperfections in the cold storage
chain are apt to have. Air-locks or ante-chambers are a
common feature in cold store construction. When the produce
to be stored is taken into these ante-chambers, the outside door
is shut, and the outside air and heat are thus prevented from
rushing into the refrigerating chamber on its being opened.
A prominent example of the total avoidance of this contact
of the produce with the outer atmosphere when the place of
storage is changed is the use by the London Central Markets
Cold Storage Co., Ltd., of patent " portable refrigerators," or
large insulated boxes, into which meat or produce can be
packed and conveyed either from ship to lighter, quay to
wagon, or otherwise.

Railway Refrigerator Cars. — It is probable that if there is
improvement needed in one stage of commercial refrigeration
more than in another it is in the means provided on the railways
for keeping frozen meat cool during transit. The modern
railway refrigerator car is at the best nothing more than a
glorified ice-box, and its interior is all too frequently an insani-

1

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THE 8MITHFIELD AND AKOENTINK MKAI OQ.'l MVIx—<-REW KKFKIUF.R m.l> KTEAM

LIGHTER El ZaraU.

A faff p. 344.

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tary chamber. Means for the mechanical refrigeration of such
rolling stock have been devised before now, but nothing of the
kind is in general use. The ordinary method of cooling railway
refrigerator vans is by means of a tank containing ice and salt
freezing mixture or ice only, fitted at one or both ends of the
car. The wagons themselves are generally insulated, chief
protection in this direction being overhead from the sun's
rays. The efficiency of such vans quite depends upon their
special design and fitting, and their importance is very great
where meat or other produce has to be railed over long distances.
Their value in the refrigerated trade, perhaps, cannot be
better illustrated than by mentioning that in the United States
of America there are altogether nearly 90,000 refrigerator cars
in service on the railways, where journeys extend over several
days.

Barges and Vans. — The barges which often form the interme-
diary between ship and cold store are now in a large proportion
of cases thoroughly insulated, and the cold held in the frozen
carcasses as they are packed tight in the barge converts the
river craft into a veritable cold store. Where such barges
make their trips only partly filled and unprovided with bulk-
head compartments, it will be seen that their cargoes are
liable to damage. In some instances where the barges or
lighters have heavy duty to perform, refrigerating machinery
is installed on them. A recent example of this is a barge,
207 feet long, built in England for the La Blanca Cold Storage
Co., and towed to Buenos Aires in the summer of 1910. This
craft has two steel decks, and is divided by bulkheads into
two large insulated holds of a total capacity of 80,000 cubic
feet. Steam driven duplex ammonia compression refrigerating
machinery is installed, the barge's holds are lit throughout
by electricity, and are also equipped with an elaborate system
of meat runners and hooks which enable meat to be dealt with
in the most convenient manner. The mammoth barge is
named after the company which owns it. Another refrigerated
craft of still later construction, built for barging work between
the Smithfield and Argentine Meat Co.'s up-river works at
Zarate and the ocean steamers bearing refrigerated meat from

346 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

Argentina to British ports, is the El Zarate, a fine twin-screw
vessel, 210 feet in length, of which an illustration is given
herewith. Her refrigerated capacity is 60,000 cubic feet, and
Haslam's refrigerating machinery, cooling on the brine circula-
tion system, is installed to maintain the vessel's cargo at either
a chilling or freezing temperature.

It is universally accepted that the conditions of shipment
or discharge of frozen meat cargoes are improved in ratio to the
proximity of the cold store to the quayside and the amount
of weather protection which the meat can obtain on the
quayside itself. Where frozen meat out of a ship has to be
sorted to marks, the best conditions for this work are under
shelter. Sorting sheds are the ideal for this, and by and by
refrigerated sorting shed facilities will probably be available
at all the leading ports.

The importance of affording ample protection for refrigerated
meat during its conveyance from ship to store, or store to
market, etc., is now universally recognized, and efficient insulated
vans, horse drawn or motor propelled, are in use in all quarters.
Such wagons are, like other refrigerating apparatus, a subject of
Lloyd's registration ; a common pattern of horse-drawn vehicle
being of about 2| tons tare. Insulating material is used for
packing the walls, roof, and floor of these vans, and air-tight
doors are provided, some of the vehicles being equipped with
meat runners and hooks. Experiments with motor traction for
frozen meat were first made about 1900, and now the uses of
this form of conveyance are many and widespread, both for
town service and over comparatively long distances.

Defrosting and Thawing. — When frozen meat is being thawed
out under ordinary conditions, the moisture from the air is apt
to condense on the surface and thoroughly wet the meat, causing
it to " weep " and become discoloured. Quarters of beef,
with their great areas of exposed flesh, are particularly affected.
The unsightly appearance of the meat is the chief harm done.
Retailers have their own methods of dealing with this difficulty ;
and they generally wipe off the moisture as it collects. Many
mechanical means have been tried for artificially thawing,
or " defrosting," frozen beef, and in few sections of the

MECHANICAL REFRIGERATION 347

industry have the engineer and inventor been more active
than in this — the Patent Office records show a wealth of their
ideas. Up to 1896 eight processes had been patented.

No. 1 subjected the meat to a continuous circulation of dry
air, formed by mixing cold air at a temperature of 19° and
dry air heated to 70°, the combined current at about 26°, in-
creased to about 60°, being forced through the thawing chamber
by a fan. Time required for thawing, two to five days.

No. 2 provided for the circulation of air, dried by an arrange-
ment of pipes containing cooling medium and suitably heated
by steam pipes, passing over the meat by natural means, and
by gradually increasing temperature abstracting the frost
without depositing moisture. Time required for defrosting
beef four days, sheep two days. This process was in use in
London for two-and-a-half years, and at Malta for meat supplied
to troops.

No. 3. — Heated air was passed over fused or crystallized
chloride of calcium and, mixed with the waste " cold " from the
frozen meat, was drawn through the thawing chamber by an
exhaust ventilator.

No. 4 provided for circulation, by means of a fan or otherwise,
of dry heated antiseptic gas, preferably carbonic acid (COa)
through a closed chamber in which the meat is hung, and when
partly thawed, a quantity of carbonic monoxide (CO), for the
purpose of giving the meat a good colour. Time required,
\vith a temperature 80° to 120°, mutton six to eight hours,
beef sixteen to twenty hours.

No. 6 consisted in a process for thawing meat by warm dry air,
and the treatment used for warming and drying, the moisture
being abstracted by contact with a deliquescent salt such as
calcium chloride.

No. 6. — Thawing was effected by placing the meat in a closed
receptacle served with heated compressed air.

No. 7 was a process for hermetically sealing and protecting the
meat from the atmosphere by immersion in boiling fat, or
highly refined, tasteless, colourless oil, so as to form an imper-
meable coating on which the moisture of the atmosphere was
deposited.

348 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

No. 8 was a process similar to No. 1, except that dry air was
saturated with a regulated amount of moisture before being
propelled into the thawing room.

From 1897 to the present time the Nelson process has been
in limited use. Noticing the accumulation of snow on the
ammonia expansion pipes in the cold rooms at Nelson's Wharf,
Lambeth, as the effect of freezing out the moisture from the
air, it occurred to Sir Montague Nelson that it would be possible
both to produce a dry atmosphere and one which could be
varied in temperature while drying. This he accomplished by
placing steam pipes under a grating in the floor and ammonia
expansion pipes on the side walls of the room, having screens
in front of them open above and below for the circulation of
air. Eighteen rooms of this construction were fitted up for
hanging quarters of beef or sheep, which meat is put into them
in a hard frozen state direct from the cold rooms. On steam
being let into the steam pipes, warm air rises from around
these to descend on each side of the room behind the screened
ammonia pipes, on which the moisture of the air is frozen, and
retained whilst the freezing pipes are at work. By regulating
the steam and ammonia cocks, the temperature can be varied
from about 38° F. to 56° F., gradually getting drier all the
time. Beef requires four and sheep two days to defrost under
this process. When frozen meat thaws under ordinary condi-
tions it looks blue and wet, by reason of the moisture of the
air condensing on the cold surface of the meat, but the effect of
Sir Montague Nelson's " defrosting " process is to restore frozen
meat to its original bright colour and dry surface as when killed,
thus enhancing its value and at a comparatively small cost.

In 1894 Mr. Jacob Atherton, of Liverpool, patented a process
for defrosting frozen meat by means of circulating an anti-
septic gas round it in a dry and heated state. The British
and Colonial Meat Defrosting Syndicate, capital £60,000, was
formed to exploit Mr. Atherton's invention, and opened a
defrosting chamber at 72, Cowcross Street, near Smithfield,
doing a fair amount of business in thawing frozen meat for
the market salesmen, at a charge of 35. per quarter of beef, and
Is. per sheep.

MF< HANICAL REFRIG1 K A I ION :H!)

In 1896 Mr. Peek, engineer of the Waitara Freezing Works,
Now Zealand, patented a plan for thawing frozen meat by
blowing warm air upon it, and admitting atmospheric air in
such a proportion as to approximate the dew point of the air
in the chambers to the temperature of the meat.

Dr. O'Doherty, of Brisbane, was the inventor of a process of an
ambitious nature for "preserving "fresh or frozen meat: he placed
his meat in an air-tight chamber, and then pumped in a preserv-
ing gas, the temperature being kept between 30° F. and 40° F.

Mr. Postle devised a simple plan for the Sydney Fresh Food
and Ice Co., his defrosting medium being hot dry air.

Messrs. E. Smethurst and R. W. Chapman, New Zealand,
defrosted mutton by attaching the carcasses to the rim of a
wheel 5 feet in diameter fixed to a vertical shaft. The wheel
was revolved, and the carcasses swung outwards, and their
rapid passage and centrifugal motion thawed the meat and
prevented the forming of moisture. A machine was erected
near Smithfield, and when put in motion, with fourteen carcasses
extended horizontally from the circumference of the wheel
whizzing round at great speed, the apparatus had a most
weird appearance. It was dangerous withal, for had one of
the flying bodies slipped its hook, the spectator might himself
have become dead meat. The date of this invention was
1902. It was successful only when the atmosphere was dry.

Another thawing patent was that of Messrs. C. A. Lichten-
berg and T. L. Washington, used in connection with the
Mediterranean frozen meat trade— for the troops. Hot and
cold air thoroughly dried and mixed in proper proportions was
blown by fans on to the frozen beef, the temperature of which
was gradually raised to 60° F.

Mr. A. H. Chapman, Otago, New Zealand, patented a close-
fit ting waterproof and air-tight bag; enclosed in this, until
the atmospheric temperature was reached, frozen meat would,
Mr. Chapman claimed, thaw out in good condition.

Mr. Fred A. Furlonge, Hawera, New Zealand, patented a
non-porous bag for frozen mutton, but this was intended also
to protect the meat as early as in the freezing stage.

The Macmeikan defrosting process is worked on the principle

350 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

of air sterilization. The supply of air is regulated by an
electric motor, automatic inlet valves adjusting the air current
according to the weight of the carcass hung in the defrosting
chamber. The process, the proprietors of which are the
Macmeikan Defrosting Process Co. Proprietary, Ltd., is associ-
ated with a freezing system, and in respect of both defrosting
and freezing very striking claims are made by the proprietors.
A demonstration of the process took place in November, 1911,
at Plymouth, and some meat defrosted by the apparatus was
placed on view at the London Central Markets.

The chronicling of these various patents is interesting history,
but the net result of all these attempts to solve the problem is
that defrosting has failed commercially. The Nelson process
has a limited scope in certain directions, but, speaking generally,
mechanical thawing of frozen meat was not, and is not,
successful, because buyers decline to pay a small extra price for
defrosted meat ; frozen meat is an article that has to be sold at
minimum rates, and a retailer will not pay the additional \d. or
^d. per Ib. that has to be charged to cover the cost of the process,
and the New Zealand and other inventors in their patents did
not take this fact into consideration. In addition, few of the
processes were mechanically effective.

CHAPTER XXVIII

LEADING PERSONALITIES IN THE TRADE

ANDERSON, GILBERT, has a connection with the frozen
meat trade which dates from 1891. Nine years had elapsed
from the Dunedin'a pioneer voyage in the interests of New
Zealand's meat shipments, and the enthusiasm which followed
that successful start having somewhat evaporated at the end
of the first decade of the Colonial meat export industry, there
was a felt want for the application of more organized methods
in the business. In 1891 the Christchurch Meat Co. asked
Mr. Anderson to take up the position of managing director.
Mr. Anderson had had a varied mercantile career, and he
applied his commercial experience to the management of the
company with such success that Dr. Symes, speaking at a
meeting of shareholders on March 2, 1906, said that Mr.
Anderson had given the company an assured position and had
converted it into an institution of colonial importance. Mr.
Anderson made a point of working up the by-products so
thoroughly that they became one of the chief sources of the
shareholders' profits. He also developed the meat business
on c.i.f. lines with standard grades. The capital of the Christ-
ohurch Meat Co. was £50,000 when Mr. Anderson took charge,
and £300,000 when he resigned in 1906 ; the freezing capacity
of 1,500 sheep per day had increased to 15,000; and the
exports of mutton and lamb from 250,000 to 1,250,000 carcasses
per annum. These figures include the capital and capacity,
respectively, of the New Zealand Refrigerating Co., and also
of a previous amalgamation, namely, that of the South Canter-
bury Freezing Co., and the Wairau Freezing Co., all of which had
been amalgamated with the Christchurch Meat Co. In 1906
Mr. Anderson, having had a serious breakdown in health,
resigned his position and went to London, where he now carries

352 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

on business under the style of Gilbert Anderson and Co., colonial
agents, frozen meat representing an important feature of the
firm's operations.

BELL, JOHN, AND SONS, LONDON, LIVERPOOL AND GLASGOW,
was a business started in 1827 by the late Mr. John Bell,
and was subsequently carried on by his two sons, Mr.
Henry Bell (now Sir Henry Bell, Bart.), and Mr, James
Bell (now Sir James Bell, Bart.). Messrs. Bell turned their
business in 1888 into a limited liability company, which a year
later was taken over by Eastmans, Ltd., a concern formed to
acquire this undertaking as well as the Eastman cattle and
fresh meat business of New York. Messrs. John Bell and Sons
began to open up meat shops in Great Britain about 1879, and
the multiple shop company system may be credited fairly to
their pioneering. When John Bell and Sons, Ltd., ceased to
exist in 1889, the company had 330 shops in the British Isles.
In another highly important matter is the name of Bell asso-
ciated with the frozen meat industry. On p. 24 will be found
information respecting the Bell-Coleman refrigerator, by means
of which machine the first shipment of frozen meat was brought
from Australia in the s.s. Strathleven to London by Messrs.
Mcllwraith, McEacharn and Co. in 1880.

BLANKLEY, WILLIAM. — Mr. William Blankley's connection
with the frozen meat industry goes back to 1886. He left the
business of his father, who was a Leadenhall Market salesman,
in 1884, and after a year's sojourn in Australia returned to
England and associated himself with the fortunes of Smith-
field Market, moving to the Japanese Village (then quite a
" Deserted Village ") in 1890. Mr. Blankley was one of
the earliest supporters of the Frozen Meat Trade Association,
of which he was President in 1901, and Vice-President in 1906,
1908, 1910, and 1911, and has throughout been an active
member of the Council. In the early days of the Association
there was some little friction between buyers' and sellers'
interests, and Mr. Blankley was instrumental in forming the
Frozen Meat C.I.F. Buyers' Association in 1907. The

MR. OILBKKT ANI>Kl:-"V

LEADING PERSONALITIES IN THE TRADE 868

difficulties alluded to were, however, of a temporary nature, and
the operations of the Buyers' Association were soon suspended,
though as a body it still exists. Mr. Blankloy has always been
a practical supporter of the c.i.f. method of conducting the
frozen meat trade, without which he does not believe that the
industry could have reached its present proportions. He is
satisfied with the development of the trade as a whole, but*
" deplores the obsolete and apathetic position in which the
various insurance companies are content to remain." Mr.
Blankley and other c.i.f. buyers are trying a new departure in
connection with insurance, the results of which, if not equal
to their sanguine ideas, must prove a great improvement, they
maintain, upon existing conditions.

NORTH WICK, SIR THOMAS, BART., was born in Edinburgh,
and started at Liverpool and Manchester in 1863 as live stock
agent. When the Strathleven'a cargo arrived in 1880, Mr.
Borthwick was much impressed with the possibilities of the
new trade, and he quickly discovered that the live stock
business would be superseded by that in frozen meat. Fore-
seeing something of the enormous developments which awaited
dead meat import from Australasia and Argentina, Mr. Borth-
wick decided to take a hand in the trade, and opened depots
at Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, and Birmingham, and in
1883 became selling agent for the New Zealand Loan and
Mercantile Agency Co., Ltd. In 1892 he brought his head office
to London, where he secured a stall at Smithfield. Assisted
by his sons — whom he took into partnership— Mr. Borthwick
transacted a large wholesale business as importer and dis-
tributor. Not content with importing and distributing in
Great Britain, the firm turned their attention to frozen meat
in Australasia, and opened freezing works at Waitara (1901)
and Hastings (1905), New Zealand ; and at Portland (1903),
and Melbourne, Victoria, as well as at Brisbane, Queens-
land (1911). They also established branch offices at Christ-
church, New Zealand (where the company now have offices
in five towns), and in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane,
Australia, and greatly extended their Smithfield Market

F.M. A A

354 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

offices and stalls. In 1904, when the volume and scope
of the firm's business had largely expanded, Thomas Borthwick
and Sons, Ltd., capital £300,000, was registered. Mr. Thomas
Borthwick, the eldest son, is managing director, and Sir
Thomas's three other sons, Mr. Algernon, Mr. William, and
Mr. James, have charge of the New Zealand, Australian, and
Liverpool and Manchester businesses. This company's opera-
tions, it will be seen, control at every point the frozen meat it
handles, from live stock market in Australasia to the dead meat
market hi Great Britain. Sir Thomas, who received his
baronetcy in 1907, is a Past President of the Cold Storage and
Ice Association. He has an estate at Whitburgh, Midlothian,
where he farms about 1,000 acres of land ; he is on the Mid-
lothian County Council Licensing Bench, and is interested in
technical education. Sir Thomas has had time to take a
prominent interest in national and local politics, and is con-
sidered in the North a tower of strength to the Liberal Party.

CAMPBELL, GORDON. — Mr. Gordon Campbell joined the firm
of W. Weddel and Co. in 1895, having previously been associated
with the Victorian Government offices in London, where he
reported upon and generally supervised Victorian produce.
Mr. Campbell first became connected with the produce business
through the late Hon. Robert Reid, of Victoria, with whom he
travelled to England in 1893, when that gentleman was on his
mission to find fresh markets for the sale of Australian pro-
ductions in Europe, and, more particularly, for those of Victoria,
for which State he was, at that time, the Minister for Defence.
Mr. Campbell acted under Mr. Reid in London, and later on,
for a period of about eighteen months, under the Agent-General
of Victoria, and it was through that source that he came into
touch with Mr. William Weddel, who in 1895 offered him a
position in his firm. The arrangement being mutually satis-
factory, the agreement was from time to time renewed until
1906, when Mr. Campbell became a partner. Mr. Campbell
was born in Sydney, but has spent most of his time in England,
although for five years, from 1888 to 1892, he was on a sheep
and cattle station in the north-west of New South Wales, so

M|i»IA> r.->l:l IIWHK, i:\Kl.

To face p. 354.

LEADING PERSONALITIES IN THE TRADE 865

that his practical experiences of stock matters have been of
value to him in his work. Mr. Campbell has been from the
first in close touch with all the sections of Smithficld Market,
and at the present time is President of the Incorporated Society
of Meat Importers, a position to which he has been four
times re-elected.

CAMERON, HENRY CHARLES, who is Produce Commissioner
in London for the New Zealand Government, comes of an
old farming family, the Camerons of Balnakyle being well
known in Scotch agricultural circles. Proceeding to New
Zealand when a young man, Mr. Cameron became engaged in
agricultural and pastoral pursuits, and has been closely iden-
tified with the development of the frozen meat industry ever
since its inception. Returning to England after several years'
experience in New Zealand, he, in 1894, opened a store in
Manchester for the high-class retail sale of New Zealand meat,
as mentioned at p. 203. Some years later, having worked up
an extensive connection, he transferred his Manchester business
to Messrs. W. and R. Fletcher, Ltd., by whom it is still carried
on, and joined the New Zealand Government as Produce
Commissioner for the Dominion in London. In this important
appointment Mr. Cameron had to take in hand much respon-
sible work in connection with the importation and sale of New
Zealand meat. Some of the work was far from agreeable,
although very necessary. The prosecution on behalf of the
New Zealand Government of meat retailers charged with selling
as *' New Zealand " meat that had never left the shores of the
Dominion, was successfully carried through by Mr. Cameron,
although every difficulty that could be thrown in the way of
prosecutions of this nature had to be encountered. Probably,
on account of the fact that meat from Australia and South
America has so much improved of late years, judicial pro-
cedure of this kind may not again have to be invoked.
Mr. Cameron has always been a strong advocate of adver-
tisement by demonstration and of meat marking as a means
for the development of the New Zealand meat trade amongst
the better class of consumers in Great Britain. Possibly, if

A A 2

356 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

the pigeon-holes of the Government office at Wellington were
searched, many special reports by Mr. Cameron would be dis-
covered dealing with practical issues and vexed questions
relating to the frozen meat export trade of New Zealand. In
shaping the destinies of the trade, as far as handling and
marketing in Great Britain are concerned, and in the depart-
ment of work which a representative of the Government may
properly take, Mr. H. C. Cameron has not played an un-
important part.

CHRISTISON, ROBERT, now of Burwell Park, Lincolnshire,
who was one of the earliest pioneers of meat freezing in
Australia, went to Australia in 1852 and took up pastoral
pursuits in North Queensland in 1865, acquiring Lammermoor
Station in the following year. Mr. Christison established a
pedigree herd of Hereford cattle, and it may be noted to his
credit that he was kind to the aborigines on his property, and
that he trained them successfully as station hands. He also
was one of the first squatters to sink artesian wells. In 1881
Mr. Christison, observing the success of the Strathleven ship-
ment, was instrumental in the erection of the Poole Island
(Bowen, Queensland) refrigerating and slaughtering works
for the export of beef to England (see p. 36).

COOK, THE LATE WILLIAM, was for many years general
manager in Europe for the Compania Sansinena de Games
Congeladas. He was born in Argentina in 1851, and was
associated with Messrs. Sansinena before they began freezing.
Mr. Cook went to England in 1885 — 1886 mainly to fix up a
freight contract, which after some trouble was arranged with
Messrs. Houston. Messrs. Sansinena's business was in 1891
turned into a company under Argentine law. Mr. Cook
managed the European interests with great ability and enter-
prise, and was a highly esteemed personage in frozen meat
circles in London ; he had a clear perception of the problems
of the trade, and had his own ways of settling them. He
used to surprise the market at times by raising his prices
when large imports of Argentine meat came along and lowering

LEADING PERSONAUTIES IN THE TRADE 867

them when the stocks were getting low I Mr. Cook was full of
ideas. One of them shows that he thought out the theory of
" pro-cooling." Insulated railway wagons had cold air pumped
into them at Havre by means of a pipe from a refrigerating
machine ; so cold was meat thus kept on the journey to Marseilles
that it arrived there with the frost on it. Mr. Cook in 1887
changed the English head office of Sansinena's from Liver-
pool to London, and at first had difficulty in selling Argentine
meat against the primer New Zealand. He retired from
Sansinena's in 1905, and died in Argentina in January, 1908.

COOKS, JOHN, senior partner in the firm of John Cooke
and Co., Australia, whose activities at the beginning of the
eighties were a large factor in the setting on foot of several of
the leading meat freezing and exporting enterprises in New
Zealand, and whose present connection with the Australasian
exporting trade is also well known, as a youth served an
apprenticeship with the linen manufacturing trade in Belfast,
Ireland, his native town. In 1873 he left for New Zealand, a
young man of twenty-one in search of more robust health.
Within a few hours of arrival in Dunedin — after a voyage of 1 10
days in the Warrior Queen — he obtained employment in a whole-
sale warehouse, but left it after three months to join the staff of
the Otago Guardian, which had then associated with it such
men as R. J. Creighton, Vincent Pyke, and Thomas Bracken.
While in that service, one of the newspaper company's directors,
the late Henry Driver, induced him to join the New Zealand
Loan and Mercantile Agency Co., Ltd., of which he was the
Otago manager. Four years later, in 1878, Mr. Cooke was
transferred to Christchurch, and immediately became manager
of the company's Canterbury business. At that time New
Zealand was in a very bad way, having felt the influence of bad
seasons and very low markets for stock and produce, besides
which the City of Glasgow Bank troubles very prejudicially
affected many New Zealand financial institutions. The efforts
being made in Australia to transport frozen meat attracted
Mr.Cooke's attention, and when the New Zealand and Australian
Land Co. began its experimental shipments by sailing

358 A HISTORY OF THE FROZEN MEAT TRADE

from New Zealand he determined to take a vigorous hand,
recognizing that it was the sole hope for permanently enhancing
values of rural lands and live stock. From 1880 until 1889,
when he was transferred to the managership of the New Zealand
Loan and Mercantile Co.'s Melbourne branch, he worked day
and night in promoting and extending the New Zealand frozen
meat trade, especially in Canterbury. The banquet given in
his honour in July, 1889, by the Canterbury Agricultural and
Pastoral Association and the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce
was a unique compliment, attended as it was by most of the
leading pastoralists and farmers in Canterbury, and also by
the leading merchants of Christchurch. Mr. Cooke became
manager in Australia in 1891 of the Australian Mortgage
Land and Finance Co. He was a leading spirit in resurrect-
ing the Australian frozen meat export trade, which had
slackened off and threatened to disappear. Mr. Cooke
helped Sir Thomas Mcllwraith in the formation of the
Queensland Meat Export and Agency Co. In 1895, Mr.
Cooke retired from company management, and commenced
business on his own account, devoting himself chiefly to frozen
meat export ; he acquired the Newport (Melbourne) freezing
works from Mr. Hotson. The tide of demand for meat and
other frozen food products that beat on Australian shores
from South Africa during the war was taken at the flood by
Mr. Cooke, and doubtless led on to fortune ; he supplied about
90 per cent, of the Australian meat issued to the British troops.
As beef was called for in that connection, Mr. Cooke erected
the Redbank Freezing Works, on the Brisbane river, and
acquired a large shareholding interest in the Burdekin works
in North Queensland ; he also acquired the output of other
works in Queensland to build up his beef export trade to
various parts of the world ; Mr. Cooke, in 1902, took over the
Sandown Works and other establishments owned by the
Austral Freezing Works. It was in the early eighties that
Mr. Cooke became intimately acquainted with Mr. William
Weddel, then associated with the New Zealand Grain
Agency Co., Ltd., and Mr. Cooke professes pride in the
fact that he exercised some influence on Mr. Weddel in his

LEADING PERSONALITIES IN THE TRADE 850

subsequent determination to devote his future energies to the
frozen meat trade. Some record of Mr. Cooke's work in
connection with the industry is to be found in the chapters
on Australian and New Zealand freezing works.

Cox, E. OWEN, general manager in Australia of Birt and Co.,
Ltd., originally entered the Bank of Australasia, New Zealand,
and was eleven years in that institution. When he left the
Bank to enter commercial life he was travelling manager.
Very many men who now occupy important positions in
Australia in the mercantile world learned their A.B.C. of
business in the Australian Banks. Mr. Cox was one of the
first men in Christchurch to set the c.i.f. meat sales going.
He came to England in 1895, and joined Birt, Potter and
Hughes, Ltd., and took charge of their frozen meat interests.
In 1897, Mr. Cox went to Sydney in the interests of the firm
and settled there as managing director of Birt and Co., Ltd.
During the South African War, Mr. Cox had, on account of
his firm, a large share of the conveyance of troops and horses,
and has been prominently connected right along with all
departments of the frozen meat trade. Mr. Cox has a genius
for details, which make him master of ev